


'' 1 o S, >> S 

^ * 

% iO 0 C o'- , M O ’ X 

. X X ',, 'c V N » 

« A v — ^Oa*. V «*a 


* * ^ •".. «rv ; 


C *•' ..s'' .A f11 7 '»• s-s .,0 

Xj A ' * 4» O 


«. $ ^* 

C.!^ 'x* 5 




I 

■» * o L 

<5 IS. «■ 


°<y .-«. T 

V * * ■ * * \/\ s v ^ ’> ,,.,/ 

\'o "' ^ v *%>, ^ , t- o t^, o 

4 '***“ 

//% 

• ^ 

fP *» ^ 

* V s . 


0 O 

'v -<• J- 



ry * 'a f" -» 

A O. y o » v * 

■o" 

° q5 ^ \ - \° 

* ^ 7> > 0^ *£. . r :, ' 7 >t#F > - wvv 

o o> 0 o i ^ *- •^ t/ s, A C- ✓ 

O. * 0 M o ■> cS> * * , a»' \0 °> * <> . 

‘‘i'-, ■%• ; ,<••- > s'"'* ^ 

V ,-t, 7;\V'. % *k «** *dSsfek'* 7 

* - . jgmA' ^7 "^ 5 Pm : X 

:7W; 7 z 7-:i 7--/' .-, t\ ; 77-7* ,% <- 

Jiv x > v *S&v a -/.A 7 ** 

••*■* 7> „,, < 7 r ' ’ -'V ,,. %'••>■'* ^ .«. 

0°' .‘ 1- , * . *< / 7 * r-‘ * °o c.0 ■ *| 

* td 


^ (* 
o 0 X 





• J U <\> «» Sv\w w!/ / 

\V </> / 4 'X -"'V '; c j so c, 

,\\‘ J ,/> o It, v\v c,^ -X. 

r * -V V. j </ ' • - .0^ * V 

-v . r >. » ^ ^ -v 

/**', 'V' ' * * ° 

s -V o C> * .-^s^ y x 

x jr-7 -j , -p <s ■ 1 " i”^k ^ ^ jA 

v ,A o nv^SSiM^ •' ^ V 


X 0o x. 




/ 






■ 1 ' >?% 

J %/r 

* ,%*%. \Wk: -^‘^- ° 


X> *r. 



& 

I 6 * y " * K o M C . v> 

fP ' *v 



, ^ ^ ^ 

^ ..... %'»“* 
^ *Vife% ° 

'’oo 1 * 


L v * ' * ° . > 

' a&.Yo % ^ : 

$«' Cl z 
<& * 



%• •** 


\ <*> 

*'"* ./I • * ^ C \ % 5 H 0 

V V ^ /V. V ^ > 

A* % ^ 


V * 0 


<r. '•> 


^ , ,>^ >? ■*> ? ^ rj^ 

\ x 

IsJStJ'. V ./ *#£?*-% * 

- ^ oo - ^S#° ^ ^ ' : " ? 

^ * » I . * ' A 0 s . . , *W" * O N 0 ’ ^ ... *A 'll' - ■> 

>■ 4 o ' s s ^ ' t, c> 

[ *v <^'V * ^ a\’ 

^ v ' i! 1 life ^ " <p <(y 




7 "* 

$* .‘N 

* <0 J 








‘K< 

% $ 

&V </> o %TW : - ! “ ^ ^ 1 VSiV <- <V 

%.'-> . . •* ^ „ , C. ", ; A ,A 

AT> V I 


1 8 


o 




0 N c 


* *2, 







THE COLPORTAGE LIBRARY. Vol. 3. No. 58. January. 1898. 
Semi-monthly. $2.25 per annum. Entered at Chicago Post-office as second class mail matter. 






THE BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION 

Was founded for the purpose of issuing good sound Christian 
literature at low prices. The work is purely undenominational in 
its character, and the sympathy and co-operation of all Christians 
is invited to help along the work of counteracting the influence of 
the vicious literature now being so widely circulated. 

Send stamped envelope for pamphlets regarding the work of 
the Association, and for complete catalogues, which include books 
on many topics —all helpful and all at specially reduced prices. 

Special terms to Colporters and for free distribution. Col- 
porters and canvassers wanted in every community. t Liberal 
terms. Address, 

A. P. FITT, Supt. 

The Bible Institute Colportage Association, 

Headquarters: 250 La Salle Ave,, Chicago. 

Eastern Depot: East Northfield, Mass, 

Canadian Depot: 154 Yonge St., Toronto. 

New York Depot: 158 Fifth Ave., New York. 


NAAMAN THE SYRla 


By A. B. MACKAY, 


CHICAGO: 

THE BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION 
250 LA SALLE AVENUE. 





Copyrighted. 1897. by The Bible Institute Colp^rtage Associatk 


NOTE. 


The more I read the Bible, the more fascinated I become. 
Its treasures are inexhaustible, its interest never flags. 

In this story of Naaman the Syrian we have a wonderful 
instance of its beauty and fulness. Here we are introduced 
to one of the leading men of his day and generation, the 
commanderdmchief of the armies of Syria. General Naaman 
is in the full height of his fame, but he is a doomed man 
because he has the leprosy. The history of his miraculous 
cure — in soul no less than in body — is the theme of this book. 

Over against Naaman stands Elisha the prophet, mightier in 
the strength of God than kings and armies, conqueror even of 
death and disease. 

In the background we see several other characters of more 
than passing interest; the little waiting=maid, whose words put 
in motion the events that led up to Naaman’s recovery; the 
king of Syria, who dismissed Naaman and suffered violent 
death by the hands of his successor; the king of Israel, forget- 
ful of his God; Naaman’s worthy servants; and Gehazi, whose 
covetousness drew down upon himself such tragic punish- 
ment. 

It is a story marvelously complete and true to life, and full 
of lessons for us all. 



CONTENTS 


CHAPTEB PAGE 

I. The Stoby of N a am an 5 

II. The Successful Captain 9 

III. The Captive Maid 24 

IV. Benhadad’s Pbogbamme 43 

V. A Tbiple Disappointment 62 

VI. Wise Counsel 79 

VII. Lively Gbatitude . 91 

VIII. Gehazi’s Selfishness . 104 

IX. Passing Into Obscurity 116 


I. 


THE STORY OF NAAMAN. 

2 KINGS 5. 

Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of 
Syria, was a great man with his master, and honor- 
able, because by him the Lord had given deliverance 
unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valor, but 
he was a leper. And the Syrians had gone out by 
companies, and had brought away captive out of the 
land of Israel a little maid, and she waited on 
Naaman’s wife. And she said unto her mistress: 

“ Would God my lord were with the prophet that 
h in Samaria! for he would recover him of his 
leprosy.” 

And one went in and told his lord, saying, “ Thus 
and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. 5 ’ 

And the king of Syria said, “ Go to, go, and I will 
s 3nd a letter unto the king of Israel.” 

And he departed, and took with him ten talents of 
silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten 
< hanges of raiment. And he brought the letter to 
the king of Israel, saying: 

“Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, 
I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, 
that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.” 

And it came to pass when the king of Israel had 
read the letter, that he rent his clothes and said: 

“Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this 

5 


6 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


mail doth send unto me to recover a man of his 
leprosy? Wherefore consider, I pray you, and see 
how he seeketh a quarrel against me.” 

And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had 
heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, 
that he sent to the king, saying: 

“Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him 
come now to me, and he shall know that there is a 
prophet in Israel.” 

So Naaman came with his horses and with his 
chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 
And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying: 

“ Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh 
shall come again to thee, and thou slialt be clean.” 

But Naaman was wroth, and went away and said: 

“ Behold, I thought, he will surely come out to me 
and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, 
and strike his hand over the place and recover the 
leper. Are not Abana and Pliarpar, rivers of 
Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may 
I not wash in them and be clean? ” 

So he turned and went away in a rage. And his 
servants came near, and spake unto him, and said: 

“ My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some 
great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? how 
much rather then, when he said to thee, Wash, and 
be clean? ” 

Then went he down, and dipped himself seven 
times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man 
of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh 
of a little child, and he was clean. And he returned 
to the man of God, he and all his company, and came 
and stood before him: and he said: 


THE STORY OF N A AM AN 


7 


“ Behold, now I know that there is no God in all 
the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, 
take a blessing of thy servant.” 

But he said, “As the Lord liveth, before whom I 
stand, I will receive none.” 

And he urged him to take it; but he refused. And 
Naaman said, 

“ Shall there not then, I pray tlfee, be given to thy 
servant two mules’ burden of earth? for thy servant 
will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacri- 
fice unto other gods, but unto the Lord. In this 
thing pardon thy servant, that when my master 
goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, 
and he leanetli on my hand, and I bow myself in the 
house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the 
house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in 
this thing.” 

And he said unto him, “Go in peace.” 

So he departed from him a little way. 

But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, 
said, “ Behold, my master hath spared Naaman, this 
Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he 
brought, but as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, 
and take somewhat of him.” So Gehazi followed 
after Naaman. 

And when Naaman saw him running after him, he 
lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and 
said: 

“Is all well?” 

And he said, “ All is well. My master hath sent 
me, saying, ‘ Behold even now there be come to me 
from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of 
the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of 


8 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


silver, and two changes of garments.’ ” 

And Naaman said, “ Be content, take two talents.” 

And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver 
in two bags with two changes of garments, and laid 
them upon two of his servants: and they bare them 
before him. And when he came to the tower, he 
took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the 
house: and he let the men go, and they departed. 
But he went in, and stood before his master. 

And Elisha said unto him, “ Whence comest thou. 
Gehazi? ” 

And he said, “ Thy servant went no whither.” 

And he said unto him, “ Went not mine heart with 
thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to 
meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to 
receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and 
sheep and oxen, and menservants and maidservants? 
The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto 
thee and unto thy seed forever.” 

And he went out from his presence, a leper as 
white as snow. 


II. 


THE SUCCESSFUL CAPTAIN. 

Come with me to the most ancient city on earth, 
and perhaps the most beautiful. Abraham in his 
westward pilgrimage may have passed through its 
streets, for the trusty steward of his house, and his 
purposed heir, was Eliezer of Damascus. Isaiah 
speaks of it as “ the head of Syria,” Mohammed com- 
pares it to paradise, Lamartine sees it “ a predestined 
capital,” Milman extols it as “the Queen of cities ”; 
and though older than history, it stands to-day as if 
with the dews of youth upon it, fresh and fair and 
fragrant as its own unrivaled rose. 

The “ eternal city ” it might well be called, for it 
has been for centuries a center of abiding influence 
and attraction in Syria, that cradle of mankind. 

There flourished from time immemorial the arts of 
war and peace, for it was early celebrated not only 
for its toughened steel, but also for its textile fabrics 
and its flowers and fruits. To the ancient warrior, 
a Damascus blade was his trustiest friend; to his 
noble dame, its damask silks, richly brocaded, were 
the perfection of beauty; and to their little children, 
its small and deep=dyed purple plum and gorgeous 
damask rose w T ere the best of all its gifts. Seen from 
a distance, this famous city, with its white streets 
stretching hither and thither through the masses of 
foliage that surround it, gleams like a star of pearl on 
9 


10 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


a mantle of richest green. To the wandering Bedou- 
in, accustomed to his barren rocks and burning sands, 
it seems set down in the garden of God, and he can 
w T ell believe the ofbrepeated story of his prophet, who 
refused to pass within its gates because one Paradise 
was enough for him . 

Let us visit this city in the heyday of its robust ex- 
istence. It is evident that something unusual has 
occurred, for not only are the housetops full of eager 
onlookers, but also its narrow and crooked streets are 
crowded wdtli enthusiastic throngs. We will enquire 
the cause of this swarthy citizen. With right good 
will the answer comes: 

“ Naaman has just returned from another of his 
glorious campaigns. At Ramoth Gilead he has scat- 
tered like sheep the combined forces of Ahab and Je- 
hosliaphat. In the battle Ahab himself, that stout 
enemy of Syria, has been slain. This is but one of 
the many brilliant achievements by which Naaman 
has made himself famous. Some time ago he utterly 
broke the power of our Assyrian oppressor. By the 
present victory having asserted our supremacy in the 
west, he has crowned our national triumphs and en- 
abled us to take our right place, as the leading power 
in Syria. Surely the man who has done such things 
is worthy of every honor. You hear his praise on 
every lip, and even now the king has spread for him 
the grandest feast Damascus ever witnessed. ” 

You have heard the answer. Let us then push 
our way to the palace, to behold the festive scene. 

We near the banqueting hall. Hark! These joy- 
ous sounds bespeak a large and eager company. 
Pass in through the open doors. What a scene! 


THE SUCCESSFUL CAP TAW 


11 


The eye is almost overpowered by the dazzling splen- 
dor. The walls are decorated with the gorgeous tro- 
phies of many a hard* won fight. The tables groan 
beneath the massive gold and silver vessels, and the 
rich and varied delicacies of the feast. The guests 
vie with each other in oriental magnificence. See! 
Conspicuous above all, in closest companionship with 
his royal master, shines the hero of the hour, Naa- 
man, the captain of Benhadad’s host! This is a glo- 
rious day for the gallant soldier, and right nobly does 
he bear his honors. 

Now think of that illustrious man, the center of 
this brilliant company, the idol of his army, the glory 
of his country, the favorite of his king. Must he not 
be the happiest man on earth? Yes, if such glory 
must give gladness, if such honors must yield satis- 
faction, if^sucli success ensures contentment, if such 
scenes banish sorrow. But before we answer this 
question definitely, it will be profitable to consider 
the elements of Naaman’s character and the causes of 
his success in life, so far as we have any clue to these 
in the Scripture narrative; for assuredly, to make 
one’s mark in life as deep as he did, to attain to such 
eminence, to' be such a marvelous success, is no small 
matter, and we do well, especially those of us who are 
beginning life, to take note of the conditions of such 
success, so far as we are able to discover them. 

Naaman possessed 

PERSONAL QUALITIES WHICH DESERVED SUCCESS. 

This is evident from all that we know of him. The 
man here spoken of was every inch a soldier; ener- 
getic, vehement, fiery, yet manly, generous and candid- 


12 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


His whole conduct and bearing are in keeping with 
the opening words of the narrative, “ He was a 
mighty man in valor.” This phrase, indeed, gives us 
the key=note of his life, and reveals the foundation of 
all his greatness. It implies far more than the pos- 
session of mere animal courage, than which few things 
are more common. It speaks of the possession of 
wisdom, forethought, ingenuity, energy, decision, ver- 
satility, and all the other high qualities which are 
blended in the character of a great general. Of these, 
courage is only one, indispensable, no doubt, and per- 
haps fundamental, but if alone, positively injurious. 
A foobhardy man is of necessity a weak man, weak 
for want of wisdom. His courage too often leads him 
blindfold to destruction; he can never be “a mighty 
man in valor.” 

Naaman was of another sort. He was wise as well 
as brave, cautious as well as energetic, and the cir- 
cumstances of his country gave him abundant oppor- 
tunity for the display of his military genius. In the 
wars against the Assyrians and Israelites he succeeded 
as no other had done before him, and on a small 
scale might be called an earlier Cyrus. 

Do we wish to make our mark in the world? Are 
our souls fired with a noble enthusiasm to be some- 
thing more than dumb, driven cattle? Is it our am- 
bition to be heroes in the great world^figlit? The 
resolve is healthy, stimulating, elevating, and the 
cloddy soul which has never felt the noble fire has 
never risen to a consciousness of the dignity of life. 
But dreams will never gain the end. High resolves 
are not enough. They must be followed up by patient 
plodding, persistent effort, and unwearied industry. 


THE SUCCESSFUL CAPTAIN 


13 


There is no royal road to learning, neither is there 
to success in life; it must be attained by downright 
hard work. No success is worth the having that is 
not built upon the foundation of persevering labor. 
“ Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished; but 
he that gathereth by labor shall increase.” 

It is just here that most men err. Their purposes 
perhaps are good, their aims lofty, but they break 
down in the middle of the work, they have no stay- 
ing power. Guard, therefore, most carefully against 
giving up any work that is good, against turning 
back when you know you are in the right path. The 
temptation to do comes from beneath, and has made 
many lives abortive. 

The devil seeks to do with our works what he is 
thought by the Highlanders of Scotland to have done 
with a peculiar plant which grows among the heather. 
The roots of this plant terminate so abruptly that it 
looks as if all the ends had been cut off, and so the 
saying is that this was the work of the great enemy 
of mankind, w T ho bit off all the ends because they 
possessed a healing virtue. Certainly this is his 
manner of working in the spirit world. He will not 
very much object to your beginning many good 
things, if you stop short in the middle and bring 
them to no abiding issue. You can make as many 
good resolutions as you please if you never put them 
into practice. You may attend church or chapel 
twice on the Lord’s day if you walk like a worldling 
all the week. You may read a chapter and say a 
prayer in the morning if you forget to be a living 
epistle of Christ all the day. You may make long 
prayers in public if in private you devour widows’ 


14 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


houses. You may launch a hundred religious and 
benevolent schemes for reaching the masses at home 
and the heathen abroad if you give them up in pet- 
ulant discontent at the first discouragement. You 
may have the soundest creed in Christendom if in 
your life it is a dead letter. In short, if you allow 
Satan to bite off the ends of your good works, he 
will make you welcome to all the beginnings. There- 
fore, as those who are not ignorant of his devices, 
having begun well, take heed lest he keep you from 
ending well! Finish the work you have commenced, 
plod on, however wearied, to the very end of the road ; 
and during all your efforts think not so much of suc- 
cess, labor rather to deserve it. Do not dream away 
your days in glorious visions of what you will some- 
time be; see rather that you possess those qualties 
of self-restraint, prudence, economy, diligence, tem- 
perance, perseverance, conscientiousness, truthfulness, 
honesty, which go to the building up of a noble cha- 
racter. This done, or being done, then put all your 
heart and soul into the work before you, though it be 
the veriest drudgery, and no fear of the success! It 
will come in good time, and in such measure as God 
sees best. 

Thus was it with Naaman. He gave his heart and 
best energies to his work, therefore he rose by genuine 
merit. 

V ery likely some of his companions in arms would 
not think so, especially such of them as had been 
outstripped in the race for honors. They would 
say: 

“What a lucky fellow Naamau is, to be sure! Bo 


THE SUCCESSFUL CAPTAIN 


15 


fortunate! Always brought to the front just at the 
nick of time, after others have done all the drudgery 
and dirty work, and nothing is left but to go in and 
win.” 

Nonsense! That is the talk of incompetent idlers; 
every syllable bears the accent of envy. You have 
heard of “ the ocean line that never lost a life.” 
This line — the Cunard— is said by some to have had 
a long lease of luck; but it is a luck in which every 
careful sea-captain that crosses the Atlantic is free 
to share. I once was present at the inspection of one 
of these noble vessels on the day before it sailed; an 
inspection never omitted and always conducted under 
the eye of one of the owners, After it was finished, 
and more minute and careful it could not be, the in- 
specting captain, turning to me, said: 

“ This, and things corresponding to this, explain 
what is called ‘ the luck ’ of the Cunard line.” 

On similar grounds can we explain what some 
would call “ the luck ” of Naaman and of other truly 
successful men. His high position he had gained by 
unquestionable merit. Often had he done good serv- 
ice for Syria on the tented field and in the council 
chamber. Many tales could be told of his personal 
prowess, of his hairbreadth escapes, of his consum- 
mate ability, of his vast resources; ay, and his many 
scars proclaimed even more eloquently than his many 
decorations the secret of his success. Remember 
in the great battle of life “ a pound of pluck is worth 
a ton of luck.” “ Seest thou a man diligent in his 
business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not 
stand before mean men.” 


16 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


Naaman was also 

FAVORED BY EXTERNAL INFLUENCE. 

This constituted no unimportant element in his 
success. He was exceedingly fortunate in having a 
master who could appreciate his character, and who 
was willing to acknowledge his services. 

The need of a great general had long been felt in 
Damascus. The rising powers in the east had already 
commenced that series of campaigns which culmi- 
nated in the establishment of empires so vast as those 
of Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus. Already a wave of 
invasion had rolled over Damascus, for the then 
reigning Assyrian king had pushed his conquests 
thus far east and brought Benhadad into subjection. 
Only for a few years, however, for the Syrians re- 
volted; and it was probably in the war of independence 
which followed this revolt that Naaman first distin- 
guished himself. Of this, though, we cannot speak 
with certainty; all that we know is that he had won re- 
nown in many wars, for he was a great man and 
honored by his master because he had wrought de- 
liverance for Syria. He was highly esteemed by 
Benhadad, and therefore advanced to posts of trust 
and influence. His office, as captain of all the king’s 
host, would combine (as was the custom in the east) 
the highest civil as well as the chief military power. 
Naaman would be both prime minister and eom- 
manderdii'Chief, and thus would be consulted in every 
national emergency. Nothing would be done with- 
out his advice; often his opinion would be deferred 
to. He would hold the strings of all state secrets, and 
his influence throughout the kingdom would be un- 
bounded. 


TftE SVC'CESSPUt C APT Am 


If 


Such success as this is not common in any day, 
but perhaps it is more common in our days than ever 
before in the history of the world. The avenues to 
outward prosperity have so multiplied, there are so 
many helping hands stretched out to the really capa- 
ble aspirants for honor in every department of human 
activity, that there is very great likelihood of the man 
of sterling merit coming to the front in the long run. 
Let him but find the sphere for which he is fitted, and 
and he will in good time reach his own level. 

And what can be done in one sphere can be done, 
and is being done, around us every day in many 
others. In the researches of science and philosophy; 
in the wide fields of classic lore and native literature; 
in the stately temple of the law; in the noble pursuit 
of the healing art; in the roar of manufacture and 
the bustling activity of commerce; in the quiet walks 
of elevating and instructive art, how many have risen 
to the highest fame from lowliest beginnings. How 
many of this world’s greatest benefactors, its divinely 
honored preachers, and its apostolic missionaries have 
risen from the ranks! “ Therefore whatsoever thy 
hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might.” With 
good hope let each one labor on, doing service in all 
things to God, performing his appointed task in this 
great world workshop, in the fullest assurance that he 
will in no wise lose his reward. 

There is another element in Naaman’s success 
which must not be ignored, and that is 

THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD. 

Are we to limit the causes of this man’s success to 
these two, Naaman’s personal qualities and Ben- 


18 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


hadad’s royal favor? By no means; such an estimate 
would be miserably defective and inconsistent with 
the record of divine truth. Surely the finger of God 
is here. Is it not He who after all lifts up and puts 
down, who raises beggars from the dunghill and casts 
princes from the throne? In regard to success in life, 
in all the numerous spheres of occupation, are we to 
ignore God? to suppose that He sits on a lofty throne, 
isolated and uninfluential, having nothing to do with 
our earthly destiny, but leaving us each to shape our 
fortunes as best we may? Nay, after all, He is the 
Disposer of every lot, the Giver of every good and 
perfect gift. Though Naaman knew Him not, and 
had often gone into the house of Rimmon with his 
master to pay worship to them who were no gods, and 
who were impotent to grant any good or avert any 
evil, none the less was the hand of the living God 
upon him for good. Though Benliadad in his pride 
and self-sufficiency might consider himself the foun- 
tain of all Naaman’s honor, still Jehovah was the 
Great porker. Naaman and Benliadad were but 
instruments in His hand working out His purposes; 
therefore the divine record runs thus, 

“ By him the Loed gave deliverance unto Syria.” 

Yes, this is the lesson we need to learn. In all 
the ups and downs of life, in the varying fortunes 
which fall to the lot of different individuals, and to 
the same individual at different periods, the hand 
of God is not to be ignored. If there is a special 
providence in the falling of a sparrow, much more 
is His hand manifested in all that befalls us. “ The 
lot is cast into the lap, but the whole dispos- 
ing thereof is of the Lord.” Let us rest assured 


THE SUCCESSFUL CAPTAIN 


19 


that whatever we undertake in life,, except the Lord 
smile upon it, it cannot prosper. “ Except the 
Lord build the house, they labor in vain that 
build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watch- 
man waketh but in vain.” God in His provi- 
dence had smiled upon this Syrian. Naaman 
stands before us not only endowed with rare qualities, 
and favored by earthly power, but also blessed by 
Divine providence. 

Let us now, in sight of a success thus solidly reared 
and Divinely granted, put again the question with 
which we began. 

DOES SUCH SUCCESS ENSURE CONTENTMENT? 

Must it of necessity make Naaman happy? 

No, assuredly no! 

How can that be ? What is to hinder him from be- 
ing the happiest mortal on the face of the earth? 

Just one thing , — lie is a leper. 

Ah, that sad qualification! It is not a dash of bit- 
terness in his cup, but a draught which turns all life 
to gall; yea, his very honors and successes serve but 
to aggravate his sorrow, for they make him feel all 
the more keenly his miserable case. What slave in 
Syria would change skins with the man who stands 
nearest the king? Ay, and he knows well that the 
dark shadow under which he walks will never lift, but 
grow deeper and deeper, until he lays what is left of 
his loathsome body in an untimely grave. Then 
where will his honor be, of what avail his high suc- 
cess? 

“ The heart knoweth his own bitterness.” How 
many who to outward appearance have all that heart 


20 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


can wish, have some rooted sorrow preying on their 
souls, and cannot be comforted! 

When that great physician, Sir James Simpson, 
received his baronetcy, numerous letters of congratu- 
lation poured in from all parts of the world. Per- 
haps some had envied him his well* won honors, and 
no doubt many must have thought him one of the 
happiest of men, but at the very time his heart was 
broken by a great sorrow. The shadow of death had 
fallen on him, and he sighed out to a friend — 

“ I receive many letters of congratulation. I have 
more need of letters of condolence.” 

And this is no isolated case. Is there any lot in 
which there is no crook? Is there any cup in which 
there is no wormwood? “Now Naaman, captain of 
the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with 
his master and honorable, because by him the Lord 
had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a 
mighty man in valor, but he teas a leper” Ah! that 
fatal “ but,” has it not sooner or later a place in every 
biography? There is a something somewhere, in our 
business, ' in our family, in our home, among our 
friends, in our hearts, in our bodies, in our minds, 
which qualifies all our joy, which casts a baleful 
shadow everywhere. What a frail plant is earthly 
happiness, a gourd with many a worm at its root! 

I hear the voice of a questioner: “Did you not 
say that Naaman’s success was due to the blessing of 
God?” 

Certainly! 

“ Who sent his leprosy?” 

God. 

“ Why did He do so? why did He not allow this 


THE SUCCESSFUL CAPTAIN 


21 


soldier to enjoy his honors in health and strength? 
Was not this a taking back with one hand what God 
had given with the other? ” 

Nay, friend, nay! That leprosy, loathsome and 
fatal though it was, was 

god’s best gift to naaman. 

“ How so? ” 

Just because it led him to God. But for it Naaman 
would in all likelihood have rested content with the 
things of time, with his fame as a warrior, with his 
riches and rewards as a conqueror, with that large 
portion of earthly prosperity which fell to his lot, and 
never would have come to the knowledge and posses- 
sion of higher and more enduring honors. That 
which was Naaman’s biggest sorrow turned out to be 
God’s biggest blessing. 

And so it may be with every one of us. If your 
trials and losses and bereavements and sickness and 
disappointments and sorrows lead you to the feet of 
Jesus, you will bless the God that sent them through 
all time and eternity. These things will turn out to 
be your great gain, and will load you with an exceed- 
ing and eternal weight of glory. 

Thus embedded in the beginning of this narrative 
are useful lessons for all of us. But are we to pass 
from the passage thus? Are we to seek for no deeper 
instruction? Surely not. Jesus found in this Old 
Testament story a warrant for His largest bounty 
when He began His public ministry; surely then we 
do no violence to its teaching when we find in it a 
picture of this world’s need and of His saving grace. 

Sinner! Naaman’s sad state is a picture of yours. 


22 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


You have sat here for your likeness. God had you 
in His eye all through when He directed such special 
attention to the loathsome disease with which this 
Syrian was afflicted. In the physical ravages of 
leprosy we see, as if reflected in a glass, the spiritual 
havoc wrought by sin. In the ordinances God 
appointed for the cleansing of the leper we have a 
vivid picture of the cleansing work of His redeeming 
love. 

In the sight of God and His holy angels this world 
is one vast lazar^house, with inmates repulsive and 
plague^stricken. You may not think so. Your 
spiritual vision may be so impaired that you, as is 
sometimes the case with lepers, may be unconscious 
of your deformity; but that does not alter the fact. 
Perhaps, like Naaman, you may be very prosperous, 
having all that heart could wish, but like him you 
can have no lasting joy. Do you forget that you are 
a sinner with an awful dooin before you? So did 
Naaman forget sometimes that he was a leper dying 
piecemeal. In the heat of battle, in the flush of vic- 
tory, amid the congratulations of friends, the horrid 
fact was forgotten. But when the excitement was 
over, when he was left alone, the sad reality would 
again overwhelm his despairing soul. So is it with 
you. You sometimes succeed in forgetting your un- 
happy state. Engrossed with business, immersed in 
gaiety, your soul loses self consciousness; but when 
you are alone and compelled to think of life and its 
solemnities, of the future and its possibilities, when 
you are laid aside from active duties on a bed of 
sickness, when you are in great peril and death stares 
you in the face, when you stand beside the opened 


THE SUCCESSFUL CAPTAIN 


23 


grave of one yon knew and loved, does not the con- 
sciousness of your condition press upon your heart 
with appalling weight? Fortunate, popular, success- 
ful, honored you may be, but still you are a sinner 
unsaved, having no hope and without God in the 
world. Oh, the unutterable wretchedness of your 
state! A true consciousness of it, however faint, would 
be as hell begun. Why will you then allow another 
moment to pass ere you cast yourself, a worthless 
sinner, on the mercy of a Savior God? A leper once 
cried to Him, 

“ If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.” 

The form of the request, casting as it did a doubt 
on His willingness, was almost an insult to His infi- 
nite love, yet notwithstanding, He answered, 

“ I will, be thou clean.” 

Even so, however sad thy case, ere thou hast read 
another word thy sins may all be cleansed. Oh, 
trust Him even now! The matter is one of tremen- 
dous urgency. 


III. 


THE CAPTIVE MAID. 

Solomon (we are told) discoursed of tlie hyssop on 
the wall as well of the cedar in the forest, and again 
and again in the Word of God we read the story of 
lowly as well as lofty lives. The modest violet nest- 
ling at the foot of the great oak and only revealed by 
its fragrance, must have its meed of praise as well as 
its stalwart protector. 

Side by side must run the record of Israel's little 
captive and Syria’s famous captain. The misfortunes 
of the one as well as the good fortunes of the other 
must receive due prominence. This divine impartial- 
ity and the all-embracing cognizance it implies, teach, 
to begin with, the important lesson that no life is too 
insignificant for the attention of the most High, and 
and that no sphere is too small and circumscribed 
for the display of principles which will certainly at 
the last draw forth His praise or condemnation. 
Therefore how careful should we be so to mold our 
lives that when the books of the great assize are 
opened, their faithful record shall not be to our shame, 
but to our praise and honor and glory. 

We could not well conceive a greater contrast than 
that which existed between the earthly lot of Naaman 
and the captive maid. So far as outward circumstan 
ces went, they were placed at opposite poles to each 
other. The one had all that heart could wish; the 
24 


THE CAPTIVE MAID 


other had been deprived of all that heart holds dear. 
Naaman was one of the most successful generals of 
his day, a man whose very name was a terror to 
thousands and the glory of many more; the little 
captive was an obscure and lowly girl, who, in her 
palmiest days, was never heard of halba-mile from 
home. 

And the contrast between their spiritual condition 
was just as striking as that between their outward 
circumstances. Notwithstanding all Naaman’s pros- 
perity, he had a rooted sorrow which turned all his 
honors to ashes, robbed him of true enjoyment, and 
filled his soul with bitterness. Notwithstanding all 
her afflictions, the little captive possessed a secret 
which turned every grief to gold, which ennobled her 
life, and filled her heart with an ever-failing welb 
spring of peace. Yea, so full and glorious was the 
blessing which she owned, that the captive dispensed 
it to the captain, and thus gave glorious proof 
that the life and well-being of great and small are 
knit together by the hand of God. Let us then con- 
sider the case of this Israelitish maiden. 

Let us visit her home. She was not born in a city 
great and renowned, like Damascus, yet she dearly 
1 wed the old homestead among the hills of Eastern 
Palestine. Humble it may have been, but 

there’s no place like home. 

See that white cottage nestling among the olive-trees, 
surrounded by waving fields, and sheltered by the 
hill which industrious hands have carefully terraced 
and clad with vines to its very summit! There was 
she born, and all her heart’s tendrils are twined 


26 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


around the hallowed spot. Every nook in the fields, 
vineyards and olive groves is familiar to her. She 
knows where to find each flower in its season. She 
can tell where the wild bees hide their honey. 

Never was there a happier home, for the fear of 
God is its firm foundation, righteousness is the 
strong roofdree, and love its blessed atmosphere. 
Her father is an Israelite without guile, thought fid 
firm, upright. A shade of sadness sometimes falls 
upon his brow, but only as the summer clouds flit 
across the ripening fields, and no wonder that some- 
times he should be sad, for he knows what sorrow is. 
He has come through troublous times, like the cove- 
nanting days in Scotland, when God’s chosen were 
hunted like partridges on the mountains. The 
apostate Ahab and the heathenish Jezebel had 
swayed for many years the scepter of Israel, and 
grievous was the havoc which they wrought. Un- 
blushing iniquity stalked erect throughout the land. 
Profligacy and cruelty ran riot with superstition. 
The vilest orgies, of which it would be a shame even 
to speak , were gloried in as acts of religious worship, 
while the true worshipers of Jehovah, a small and 
feeble band, hid their heads in shame and consterna- 
tion. 

Through all that trying time this Israelite held fast 
his faithfulness. He was one of the few who never 
bowed the knee to Baal. There, in this secluded 
glen, far from the wicked court of Ahab and the 
polluted priesthood of Baal, he continued to worship 
the God of his fathers, and though he often felt it a 
great hardship that he could not go up to Jerusalem 
to worship, as did the tribes of God in the happy 


THE CAPTIVE MAID 


27 


days of Israel's unity, still it was some consolation to 
remember the words of Solomon at the dedication of 
the temple: 

“The heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee, how 
much less this house which I have built.” 

So this godly Israelite sought to worship God at 
home, and walk in the path of his precepts with all 
diligence from day to day. Perhaps he may have 
been strengthened and comforted by personal contact 
with Elijah the Tishbite, who was then raised up to 
resist the evil under which Israel groaned. Certainly 
the knowledge of his mission must have been his 
greatest comfort in that dark hour. 

Some such home must have been the heavenly start- 
ing-point of life to this little maid. Could there be 
a better? How greatly blessed are they who pass out 
into the great weltering ocean of active life from 
such a haven of peace! 

Consider her training. We can well conceive what 
it must have been in such a home. Her father, 
adopting the words of Joshua, must have said: 

“As for me and my house, we will serve the 
Lord.” 

So, according to the Divine command, he would 
carefully teach his children all of the laws of 
Jehovah. He would speak to them of His sovereign, 
redeeming, separating love, so emphatically revealed 
in the history of His people. He would dwell on 
the wonder of His ways with the children of men; 
how He called Abram from his country and people to 
be the head of a holy race; how He led and protected 
the patriarchs in all their wanderings. He would 
tell them of Joseph and his afflictions; of the iron 


28 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


entering into his soul, and of the Lord delivering him 
out of all his troubles, and setting him on the throne 
of Egypt, for the salvation of his brethren. The 
story of the bondage and the mighty deliverance 
from Egypt, the glorious marching through the 
wilderness, and the sublime declaration of the law 
would rivet their attention. He would speak of the 
mighty deeds of Joshua and all the judges, of the 
wars of David, and the glories of Solomon. And the 
story would become more interesting and 

THE CHILDREN WOULD LISTEN SPELLBOUND 

as he spoke of the works of Jehovah in his own 
day — the marvelous mission of Elijah, his terrible 
destruction of the priests of Baal, and the chariot of 
fire that swept him up to heaven. And he could 
point to facts which had occurred under their own 
eyes, which showed that the Lord’s hand was not 
shortened nor His promises slack. He could show 
how God’s judgment had overtaken the wicked house 
of Ahab. He could speak of the work of Elisha, the 
gracious successor in the prophetic office of the 
Titanic Tishbite. He could direct their attention 
to such wonders of judgment as the destruction of 
the impious and profane youths of Bethel, and to 
such wonders of mercy as the raising from the dead 
of the Shunamite’s child. Thus their minds must 
have been enlightened, and their hearts filled with a 
holy enthusiasm for Jehovah and His cause, by these 
daily repeated instructions. 

That’s the training that tells; training in the truth 
of God; training steeped in prayer. Would God we 


THE CAPTIVE MAID 


29 


had more of it! How many parents, instead of train- 
ing up their children like tender plants in a well-kept 
garden, allow them to run wild like weeds in a 
forest! How many make Sabbatlnschools an excuse 
for not paying that attention to the moral and 
religious development of their children which God 
has commanded, and which they alone can give; for 
whatever the mental caliber of the parent, his or her 
words have force all their own, and they are more 
potent for good or for evil than those of any other. 
Christian parents in the present day need to be 
told, and that most emphatically, that the duty of 
training up their children in the nurture and admoni- 
tion of the Lord is one which cannot be delegated to 
any other; that the instructions of the most efficient 
and earnest Christian workers are to be a supplement 
to, and not a substitute for, parental efforts. And all 
experience has shown that the results are the best, 
and the impressions the deepest and most lasting, 
where parental instruction is the rule. 

It was thus that comparatively uninfluenced by the 
commotions of these apostate days, this godly Israel- 
ite sought to train up his children, and with what 
success in the case of his little daughter the sequel 
will show. 

Sympathize with her sorrow! Alas that it should 
be so, that there is room for sorrow as well as for 
admiration! Yet so it is. A great cloud is gather- 
ing round that happy home. Sorrow is the common 
portion of mankind, and God has given His children 
no release. To the home of this Israelite where 
Jehovah’s name was known, as well as to that of the 


30 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


heathen Naaman, affliction comes; and if it was for 
the good of Naaman, much more must it be for the 
good of this guileless Israelite. 

If distance from the center of government gave 
them freedom from many bloody and tyrannical 
edicts, it also exposed them to the incursions of en- 
emies. Hitherto this godly family had been gra- 
ciously shielded, but one evening this little girl was 
missing. She was bright and intelligent, thoughtful 
beyond her years, the joy of her father’s heart, the 
light of her mother’s eye. She had gone out on some 
little errand and never returned. As evening wore 
on, her parents became anxious and made enquiries 
among the neighbors concerning her. All that they 
could discover was that a company of Syrian soldiers 
had been seen hovering about the neighborhood, and 
the supposition was that some straggling band had 
pounced upon her and carried her away. 

So it really was. When she was all alone, at a 
considerable distance from the nearest dwelling, she 
w T as 

TERRIFIED BY SEVERAL ROUGH, FIERCE i LOOKING MEN 

who suddenly surrounded her. She could scarcely 
understand what they said, but she knew too well who 
they were, and notwithstanding all her tears and 
cries and entreaties they dragged her away with them, 
away she knew not whither. 

How sad it must have been to leave her loving 
mother and her kind father, her happy brothers and 
sympathizing sisters, her merry playmates and the 
•home she loved so well! How mysterious it must 
have been to one of her pimple faith \ If God was 


THE CAPTIVE MAID 


31 


her God and lier father’s God and the God of her 
people, why did He allow this? Was He not the Al- 
mighty Jehovah who could do according to His will 
in the armies of heaven, much more among the inhab- 
itants of the earth? And the Syrians were not His 
people! Why then should she who had put her trust 
under the shadow of His wing be brought thus 
cruelly under the power of the oppressor? 

These are hard questions, and many such have been 
put in all ages by the tried and afflicted people of 
God. A little child can put them, but who can fully 
answer them? No one in time. Yet we know as- 
suredly that in God’s good time He will make all 
plain. 

When the printer is setting up the type, a stranger 
to his work can make nothing of it as a whole. He 
may recognize a letter, or spell out a word here and 
there, and that is all. But when the type is put into 
the press, and an impression taken, then all is made 
plain, we can read and understand the whole. So is it 
with our earthly experiences. In time, God is setting 
up the type of our lives, letter by letter, word by w T ord, 
sentence by sentence. The characters are inverted 
and often hard to decipher. What marvel, then, that 
we children of a day can read and understand only a 
very little— here a letter, there a syllable, and per- 
haps occasionally a little word. What marvel that 
we have but an inkling of the Divine purpose in our 
lives, that we commit gross blunders and make grave 
mistakes in our attempts to explain the mystery. 
But soon the work will be done, the Divine “ finis ” 
will be inserted at the end of our biography, and 
when the whole is printed off in eternity, we shall be 


tiAAMAV rm: smutf 


able to understand it all from beginning to end; and 
then, as with purged vision we read the record of our 
completed lives, we shall discover that not one letter, 
yea, not even a single comma, could have been omit- 
ted, that the whole work is gloriously complete. 

Meanwhile, we should be like a farmer of whom we 
have heard, who put the passage — “ Ciod is love'’— upon 
the weathercock on his barn. 

“What!” said a friend who saw it; “that is a 
strange place on which to put such a precious text. 
Do you mean to say that God’s love is as fickle as the 
wind?” 

“ By no means,” said the farmer; “ I mean by that 
to say, ‘ whatever icay the icind bloivs, God is love.’” 

The lesson is a good one and much needed. When 
the south wind blows softly, when sunny skies and 
gentle zephyrs laden with perfume cheer our souls, 
we can believe that God is love; but when the hurri- 
cane comes down from the blustering north or the 
biting east, when the skies are dark and dreary, and 
the singing of birds is hushed, and the flowers in 
which we delight are laid low T , what shall we say? 
Has God changed with His changing providence? 
Has He forgot us? Nay, nay, afflicted soul! whatever 
way the wind blow T s, north, south, east, or w r est, God 
is love. 

Honor her steadfastness. The principles imbibed 
in her father’s house were now and very severely put 
to the test. 

Perhaps the most momentous period in the life of 
the young is just when for the first time they have 
been removed from the influences and restraints of 
home; when their lot is cast among strangers, who 


THE CAPTIVE MAID 


$3 


are either indifferent in regard to right principles, or 
positively hostile and desirous of casting down the 
whole structure that has been so laboriously reared. 
It is just here, on the very threshold of life, that most 
are ruined. If they pass unscathed this moral and 
spiritual rubicon, the future is bright with hope, for 
this very fact seems to indicate that already they 
tread by faith that path of the just, which is as the 
shining light, that shineth more and more unto the 
perfect day; whereas, if they fall, it will be with a 
desperate struggle that they regain lost ground, and 
even then, the scars and bruises of that fall will never 
leave them, however all its guilt may be forgiven. 

Oh you who are starting out in life, you who can 
look back on homes of piety, you who have left the 
quiet paternal roof for the busy city and the bustle of 
active life, perhaps you are feeling very lonely among 
strangers. Some court you, some mock you, some 
care nothing for you. You are hearbsick at times. 
Be watchful. Be prayerful. Walk softly. The crisis 
is momentous. Commit all your ways unto the Lord, 
that He may direct your steps. Consider how this 
Jewish maid conducted herself in much more trying 
circumstances, and learn to 

IMITATE HER GOOD EXAMPLE. 

The Syrian soldiers speedily arrived at Damascus, 
and as they had found their captive quick and useful, 
they thought that instead of selling her in the com- 
mon slave market, they would make a present of her 
to the lady of their great general, Naaman. It was 
well for the captive that they came to this resolution. 
Naaman’s wife was pleased to accept the present from 


34 


NAAMAN THE SYRTAN 


tlieir hands. She well knew what sorrow was, and 
perhaps had shown her pity for the poor trembling- 
captive, when she was brought into her presence, and 
thus at once won her gratitude. 

There were many things in Damascus quite new to 
this country girl. At first she was quite overwhelmed 
by the grandeur and extent of the city, and dazed by 
its crowded streets. She had never seen such magni- 
ficent buildings before, and in her simplicity she 
sometimes wondered where all the people came from, 
and what they all could do. The more she became 
acquainted with the city, the more clearly did she see 
that she had very much to be thankful for. God had 
given her a kind master and mistress, and had pro- 
tected her from many evils. Had it been her lot to 
have been sold, she might have fallen into the hands 
of those whose tender mercies were cruel. But not- 
withstanding the strangeness of her surroundings, so 
attractive to the youthful mind, and the kindness of 
her mistress, so grateful to the ingenuous heart, her 
lot was sad. Who can tell the heart of a stranger, ay 
and that stranger an unwilling captive, in an enemy’s 
land? 

A bronzed sailor crossing London bridge espied 
the cages of a bird-fancier filled with home birds. 
He speedily struck a bargain for the lot. Then de- 
liberately opening cage after cage he let all the birds 
fly away. The astonished salesman thought this was 
a little eccentricity on the part of a tar too flush of 
cash, and the little group that gathered round en- 
joyed the joke immensely. But even the tough hearts 
of the city Arabs were softened, and their eyes moist- 
ened, when Jack turned round and said: 


THE CAPTIVE MAID 


35 


“ Mates, I’ve just come out of a dungeon in a for- 
eign land. I know what it is to be a captive cooped 
up within four walls, and I can’t bear to see even a 
bird deprived of its liberty.” 

So, notwithstanding all her comforts, this little 
captive was often very sad. The sense of loneliness 
was especially oppressive. ' Speaking in a strange 
tongue, she found it difficult to talk to her fellow^ 
servants, and quite impossible to unburden her heart. 
Moreover she soon found out that they had very little 
sympathy with her. Often she felt homesick, and 
then it was some consolation to slip up to the flat 
roof and gaze wistfully towards the white peaks of 
Lebanon, and wonder if she would ever see her home 
again. She did not forget the instructions of that 
home, and there, with no eye to see, she would kneel 
down with her face to Jerusalem, and pray to the God 
of her fathers. His Word hid in her heart now 
showed its power. It was bread and water sustaining 
her fainting spirit, and giving her strength to bear up 
under her sorrows. It was a wall of fire around her, 
preserving her from many evils. In that city there 
were influences which would have overpowered an 
unwary and an uninstructed soul. There were stately 
temples and many deities, chief among whom was 
Rimmon, the national god, looked up to as “ the 
most high.” 

The worship of their false gods was carried on with 
much solemnity, and outward pomp and show. There 
were imposing processions, attractive ceremonies, 
and gorgeous festivals, at which the highest in the 
land, even the king himself, assisted. But this maid 
abhorred idolatry with all her heart, and gave it no 


36 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


countenance. The ten commandments had a new 
meaning to her, and endowed her with a strange pow- 
er to keep from the polluting contact of this heathen 
worship. They also enabled her to turn aside from 
many of the popular amusements of the great city, 
which though very attractive to the Syrians, and con- 
sidered quite harmless, were utterly at variance -with 
her past training in the truth of the Lord, and the 
habits of her home. Even in the sphere of everyday 
duty she found that the old commandments and in- 
structions made her an oddity in Naaman’s house- 
hold. Her felloW'Servants were perplexed with what 
they called her strange notions and odd conceits, her 
aburd scruples of conscience and ridiculous preten- 
sions. Her adherence to duty they would call stub- 
bornness; her vindication of her conduct by appeal to 
Jehovah’s Word, Jewish bigotry. 

But notwithstanding all, she maintained her in- 
tegrity; a difficult task, as the many that fall bear 
witness to. Too many, when tried like her, make 
utter shipwreck. No sooner do they leave home and 
face new temptations than they forget all their home 
instructions, and throw to the winds those holy habits 
in which they had been trained. They would no 
more think of living in the gay city according to the 
principles of their godly home than they would think 
of wearing homespun as they walk the city streets. 
It is true their parents trained them up to honor the 
Lord’s day, to frequent the house of prayer, to turn a 
deaf ear to the instruction that causeth to err, to 
avoid the society of the vicious and profane, to keep 
far from degrading pleasures. But now they say: 

“ It won’t do. When you are in Rome you must do 


THE CAPTIVE MAID 


37 


as the Romans do. Better out of the world than out 
of the fashion. These old 

PURITANICAL NOTIONS 

may work very well in the country, and among the 
old folks, but they are not practicable here. They 
don’t suit me. I would be laughed at, if I acted up 
to them.” 

And so the young man ceases to be regular in his 
attendance at the house of prayer. He likes to move 
about and hear the other side of the question, and 
soon comes to the conclusion that it is on the whole 
much better to admire the beauties of nature, and en- 
joy one’s self in what he calls a rational way, than to 
be bound down by these antiquated notions. He 
finds plenty of his way of thinking, and just as the 
worship of God is neglected, the worship of pleasure 
and of mammon is attended to. He begins to live 
for the things that are seen, and except arrested on 
the downward path, may turn out a scoffer, a libertine, 
a rogue, or all three. 

Few ministers of the gospel will have any difficulty 
in giving instances of such sad descents, from what 
has come under their own observation. Surely then 
you who have just left home and are surrounded by 
evil influences, should take heed. Remember this little 
maiden. Honor her heroic steadfastness to the faith 
of her fathers; the only worshiper of the true God 
in that house, yea, so far as she knew, in that city; 
never heeding the scoffs and jeers and laughter and* 
petty persecutions of those around; holding fast her 
integrity without wavering— all alone, in a glorious 
minority of one. Is it not sublime? 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


?>8 


Imitate her, then, for thus alone you honor her. 
Young men and women, keep true to the old tried 
principles in which you have been trained. Beware 
of loose ideas and loose morals, and remember that in 
that Book which is the divine guide through life, God 
has again and again given this advice: 

“My son, forsake not the law of thy mother.” 

Admire her solicitude. She had not been long in the 
family of Na’aman when she discovered that something 
was wrong. Perhaps she had thought, as do many, 
that people who live in magnificent houses, with 
many servants and splendid equipages, must be as 
happy as the day is long. Therefore she was sur- 
prised to find that Naaman never seemed so cheerful 
as her father, and her mistress was often pale with 
weeping. She had never seen her mother so. She 
wondered what could be the matter, and at last she 
found out that Naaman was a leper. 

A leper! She shuddered at the thought, for she 
knew, better even than these Syrians, what a dread- 
ful disease it was. She knew how the lepers had to 
keep apart from all others. She remembered some of 
the laws concerning leprosy, and at first she felt afraid 
to live under the same roof with her master lest she 
should be defiled. Then her heart was filled with 
sorrow to think that her master and mistress had such 
a great grief. Some might have been glad when they 
made the discovery, and would have looked upon this 
disease as a judgment sent by Jehovah on the spoiler 
of His people; but the heart of this slave was filled 
with pity. Perhaps she enquired if anything had 
been done for Naaman by the ( physicians and priests 
and magicians of Damascus, but only to be told that 


THE CAPTIVE MAID 


39 


this disease was altogether incurable. But notwith- 
standing, she could not banish his sad case from her 
mind. 

Often at night she lay awake thinking about him 
and her sorrowful mistress, and praying Gfod to com- 
fort them, and once when she was thus engaged, the 
thought came like a flash of lightning: 

“ Elisha could cure him.” 

In an instant, the whole thing was plain. He who 
had brought back to life the boy of the Shunamite 
could have no difficulty in curing a leper. But 
would he be willing to cure Naaman? This was at 
first a hard question; but she remembered that Elijah 
saved the lives of the Zidonian widow and her son 
during the time of the great famine, and kept her 
handful of meal from wasting and her cruse of oil 
from failing till the day the Lord sent rain upon the 
earth. Surely the loving Elisha would do as much 
as the terrible Elijah for a Gentile. And was he not 
the prophet of Jehovah the God of Israel, who had 
said — “I am the Lord God merciful and gracious, 
longsutfering and abundant in goodness and truth ”? 
The true servant must be like His master. 

But even after she was fully persuaded of Elisha’s 
power and willingness to cure Naaman, there were 
many difficulties to overcome. She asked herself: 

“How could I speak to these Syrians about the 
power of Jehovah? They know nothing about it, and 
do not believe me. They despise me already, and 
would they not laugh at me if I said that Elisha was 
able to cure leprosy? ” 

Notwithstanding, she felt that she might venture 
to speak to her mistress. Yet even when she had 


40 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


resolved to do so, she found that she had set herself a 
hard task. She tried to speak again and again, only 
to find that her lips seemed sealed and her tongue 
would not obey her. But the wish to benefit her 
master, deep down in her heart, grew bigger and big- 
ger every day as she looked on his pale face, and at 
last, seeing her mistress even more sad than usual, she 
could not restain herself, but gave vent to her feel 
ings in the anxious words: 

“ Would God my lord were with the prophet that 
is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his lep- 
rosy.” 

The mistress listened to the tender, eager accents 
of the maid. The unaffected pity and the ardent con- 
viction which they breathed, moved her heart in a 
way unknown for many a day. She did not despise 
the words of her handmaid; simple, childlike, unas- 
suming they were, and therefore all the more telling. 
They had not the faintest tinge of sanctimoniousness 
or precocity, but revealed in every syllable a transpa- 
rent interest in her master’s welfare. If she spoke 
tremblingly and diffidently, yet she spoke confidently, 
and only e fearful lest her testimony should be 
rejected. 

Ah! she need not fear. No word spoken for God, 
even by infant lips, can return void; it must prosper 
in the thing whereto it is sent. Love’s labor is never 
lost, even when it is despised. It was not despised 
in this case. Her mistress took the first opportunity 
to repeat her words to Naaman, and new hope was at 
once kindled in the hearts of both. 

“ A little child shall lead them.” How often hrs 
that word been verified! How often has the finger 
of childhood pointed older persons aright! 


THE CAPTIVE MAID 


41 


Estimate her usefulness. The calculation must be 
rough, but it may be profitable. 

She was more useful to Naaman than all the wis- 
dom of the wisest men of Damascus, than all the 
might of Benhadad, than all the riches of Naaman 
himself. She was the only light in the darkness that 
surrounded him. And why was she useful? Be- 
cause she knew the truth and spoke it in love. 

She knew the truth, and without this she could 
have been of no service. She knew the character of 
Jehovah and His prophet. She had perfect confi- 
dence in God’s power and love, and in Elisha’s faith- 
fulness to His master. He could, and he would, if 
applied to, perform this wonder. She boasted of God 
that He would do for Naaman what he had not done 
for any leper in Israel; and God honored her faith. 

Also she spoke the truth in love. Many who know 
the truth fail here. Their words, however true; fall 
upon dull ears because they come from cold hearts. 
Because the words of this maid were the outcome of 
unaffected sympathy they were believed. She did not 
forget her place in addressing her mistress. There 
was no tinge of that precocious piety which is often 
mere impertinence. It has been said with truth that 
she was a model missionary. Let all who seek to 
speak for God, imitate her good example. 

Rejoice over 

HER REWARD. 

What a reward it must have been when her mis- 
tress told her that Naaman had resolved to ask 
the king’s permission to go to Samaria! How ea- 
gerly would she help to arrange and prepare the 
goodly presents he would take! What a reward when 


42 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


she saw his chariot actually at the door, and heard 
the clatter of the horses’ hoofs as he and his escort 
rode away! What a reward when he returned per- 
fectly whole, his flesh like that of a little child! 
What a triumphant answer to all doubts and objec- 
tions! Ay, and what a reward when she heard from 
Naaman’s own lips the confession that the God of 
Israel was the only true God of heaven and earth, and 
that from that day forth he would worship and serve 
Him only! Surely her cup would be running over. 
As she had wept with the broken hearted in their day 
of grief, so now in this day of gladness they would 
rejoice together. 

Are we here to end this idyll of youthful piety and 
divine fidelity? Can we suppose her reward to end 
here? Can we imagine for a moment that Naaman, 
the generous, warnnhearted soldier who pressed his 
gifts on Gehazi, would forget her who had been the 
principal cause of his cure? Nay, it is impossible. 
Must we not then end where we began? Must we 
not in fancy follow her who had been dragged away 
from her home by a ruthless soldiery, a trembling, 
weeping child, brought back, in the blush and bloom 
of youth, with a kingly escort that astonished all the 
glen, to her father’s house; again to nestle unpolluted 
and unspoiled under the old rooftree, surrounded by 
love and esteem, and at last to tell to her children's 
children the story of her childhood’s sorrow and 
Jehovah’s faithfulness. And this would always be 
the blessed ending of the ofbrepeated but never tir- 
ing tale': 

“ Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the 
Lord delivereth him out of them all.” 


IV. 


BENHADAD’S PROGRAMME. 

Important results often flow from insignificant 
events. A wakeful monarch calls for the chronicles 
of his kingdom and desires that they be read to him 
to lull him to sleep, and thus the unrewarded merit of 
Mordecai is remembered and Hainan’s plot destroyed. 
The lever on a locomotive engine is not large, the 
hand of a boy could move it, but it wakens the sup- 
pressed energy trembling in that iron frame, and the 
express train thundering over the earth is the strik- 
ing result. So here, the sympathetic outspoken 
desire of the little maid was 

THE TURNING-POINT IN NAAMAN’S HISTORY. 

Her touch of faith set in motion that train of events 
which resulted in the temporal and eternal welfare of 
her master. Whenever her words were reported to 
him, hope sprang up in his heart. Perhaps it was 
faint to begin with, but the more he questioned her 
the more it increased, and at all events he felt that 
there was sufficient reason for taking action. The 
bare possibility of a cure was sufficient to rouse his 
energy. 

Surely this earnestness of Naaman is a reproof to 
indifferent sinners. How many live year after year 
utterly careless about the state of their souls! You 
know that your life is sinful, you know that you have 
43 


u 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


no good hope for eternity; at least you will acknowl- 
edge this in a way when the matter is pressed upon 
you. Yet as a rule you never trouble yourself about 
these things. What you will eat and drink and 
wherewithal you will be clothed are matters of su- 
preme concern; your sin, death, the great white 
throne, eternity, are nothing. O fools and blind, 
learn a lesson of Naaman! Why did he so readily 
catch at this hope held out to him? Because he was 
so deeply conscious of his evil case. He neither 
loved nor honored Israel, he had done all in his power 
to destroy it; but his need was so great that he would 
welcome help from any quarter. Even so, sinner, if 
only a meagre consciousness of the misery and hope- 
lessness of your condition filled yourdieart you would 
be all anxiety to seek the remedy. There would be 
no need of elaborate sermons, stirring appeals, press- 
ing invitations; you would listen eagerly to the merest 
child who could speak to you of salvation. How 
quickly would your prejudices vanish! Christ cruci- 
fied would no longer be a stumbling-block and fool- 
ishness, but the power and wisdom of God. But 
surely Naaman will rise up in judgment against you. 
He listened to the testimony of a child; you shut 
your ears against the perfect Word of God. 

Watch the conduct of Naaman, and see what a man 
in earnest will do. He leaves no stone unturned to 
attain the desired end. If there is salvation for him 
in Israel, he is determined to have it. He is resolved 
to seek, find he must. At once he applies to the high- 
est authority in Syria for help in this matter. He re- 
quests an audience with the king, which is at once 
granted. 


BENHADAD' S PROGRAMME 


45 


We can imagine the scene. There stands Naaman 
all earnestness before his master. He repeats the 
story he has heard, tells the hopes that have risen 
in his heart, and requests the assistance of his king 
in carrying out his plans. Already the maiden has 
affected Naaman with her own earnestness. “ He 
went in and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said 
the maid that is of the land of Israel.” 

Benhadad listens to his words, stares at him in 
astonishment, perhaps smiles incredulously at the sto- 
ry, but readily consents to the expedition. He has 
little or no faith in the possibility of a cure, especially 
from such an unlikely quarter; however, if there is 
any hope at all, Benhadad thinks he is just the man 
to help his servant. 

“ Go to,” he says, “ let me arrange this matter. 
Never fear! If there is any truth in this girl’s strange 
story, I’ll see that you have full benefit of it. If 
these Israelites are clever enough to cure leprosy, I’ll 
compel them to cure you.” 

Thus in Benhadad we see man in the loftiness of 
his self-esteem, in the complacency of his worldly 
wisdom, and in the pride of his little brief authority. 
It will be profitable to notice how Benhadad 
seeks to bring about the cure of Naaman, or (in other 
words) to mark the means which man devises for ob- 
taining God’s salvation. 

Naaman is provided with a letter. 

This letter is an imposing and authoritative docu- 
ment, bearing the great seal of the kings of Syria. It 
contains the declaration of Benhadad’s royal will. It 
is the symbol of his power and majesty, and therefore 
it must not be trifled with or treated lightly. To de- 


46 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


spise it would be to provoke all his anger. Listen to 
its contents: 

“Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold 
I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, 
that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.” 

That is a document short and to the point, thor- 
oughly businesslike in every letter. No words are 
wasted in preface, argument or apology. The facts 
are clearly stated, and his wishes fully declared. 
There is no ambiguity to give occasion for the loop- 
hole of an ingenious misreading. There is no hint 
of any abatement of the demand. No doubt is sug- 
gested as to the possibility of a cure. No opportun- 
ity is given for delay or excuse of any kind. Plain, 
pointed, peremptory is this epistle. “ Do this or 
defy me” is its burden. 

Let us examine it more closely. Notice the ad- 
dress : 

“ To Joram, king of Israel.” 

Surely this is a mistake. No, the writing is very 
legible; sure enough it is addressed to Joram. But 
the Hebrew maiden never said a word about Joram 
— Elisha, and Elisha alone, was in her thoughts, and 
his name only on her lips. Truly this was the case, 
but Benhadad thinks he knows the best way to go 
about his business. Who was Elisha? “The proph- 
et that is in Samaria.” At once therefore Benhadad 
comes to the conclusion that he is some hanger'on 
at the court of Joram, as thoroughly at his beck and 
bidding as the priests and magicians at Damascus 
are at his. Therefore he concludes that the shortest 
and best way to attain his end is to address Joram: 
to command him is to command Elisha. 


BENHADAD'S PROGRAMME 


47 


Naaman is also furnished with money. 

Benliadad was wise in his generation. He showed 
great knowledge of human nature. He knew well 
that few things could be done without money, and 
that with money apparent impossibilities were often 
overcome. The might of the dollar was not less in 
that day than in this. Money then, as now, was not 
only the sinews of war, but also of successful diplo- 
macy. “ Nothing for nothing ” is a rule of univer- 
sal application, not only all the world over, but at all 
periods of its existence. A heap of gold is often far 
more persuasive than imperial parchment. “ Gold 
wins a way where angels might despair.” Both Ben- 
hadad and Naaman believed in the £>ower of money 
and used it freely to obtain their ends. They were 
by no means stingy, but rather showed a princely 
lavishness in their proposed gifts. 

The rich show the value they set upon health by 
the high price they are willing to pay for it; there- 
fore lei; not the poor blessed with good health com- 
plain. The rustic who opened the gate for the splen- 
did city equipage looked with speechless admiration 
as it whirled past him down the shady lane, and as he 
picked up the piece of silver thrown him for his little 
service the boy thought what rapture to be borne 
thus with every pleasure money can buy. He did 
not see how pale and weary and sad was the face of 
him who sat therein. He did not hear the sigh 
which the sight of his rude health brought up from 
the depths of that invalid’s heart. What would he, 
what would every dying Naaman give for buoyant 
health! Naaman’s gifts were very costly and show 


4g 


naaman mx svtiuti 


THE VALUE HE SET UPON HIS CURE. 

His ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of 
gold, and ten changes of raiment, must have amounted 
to at least fifty thousand dollars. Surely a fatter fee 
than ever doctor handled from that day to this. 

It is clear that Benhadad and Naaman wished to 
have two strings to their bow. If the letter was fitted 
to frighten, the gifts were fitted to conciliate. If the 
the cure cannot be commanded by the one, it may be 
bought by the other; the idea of its being obtained 
gratis never entered their heads. Still another ele- 
ment, however, was added as an appropiate means of 
forwarding the ends in view. Naaman was accom- 
panied by an imposing retinue. 

We, see from the sequel that this retinue was in- 
tended to play an important part in the cure. It was 
to form an imposing background, and impart dignity 
to the whole transaction. It was to serve as a foil 
to set off the exceeding greatness of Naaman and his 
royal master, and to make a profound impression on 
those who were to work the cure. 

Here again is displayed a marvelous knowledge of 
the human heart. The pride that w T ould resent a 
command, that would be steeled against a gift, can 
often be conciliated and made pliable by imposing 
display. Borne men are most easily conquered 
through the eye. A brilliant display of regal pomp 
and magnificence will take the hearts of some men by 
storm, and make them soft as wax. These Syrians 
knew the value of appearances. Such a splendid 
cavalcade dashing up to any man’s door and halting 
there might well flatter his pride and make him pliant 


BEN HA DAD'S PROGRAMME 


49 


and pleasant to his illustrious visitor. Would not 
most men when the breathless and excited servant 
announced such a visitor with such a retinue, come 
to the door in all haste, bowing obsequiously and 
radiant with smiles? No physician or philosopher, 
priest or magician in Syria could have been proof 
against any one of these three, — letter, money, reti 
nue, let alone the whole of them. 

See Naaman then as he whirls along over the plain 
of Damascus. Is he not bravely equipped for his 
errand? Surely he is far more likely to succeed in 
this expedition than in any other which has led him 
from home. 

Let us sum up again the items on which he de- 
pends for success. He has got a letter in his hand to 
to command the cure; money in his purse to buy the 
cure; and a splendid retinue around him to patronize 
the cure. That is to say, we have here man’s will, 
man’s purse, man’s pride, all working together to ob- 
tain a certain end — cure for this captain’s leprosy. 
Or inasmuch as this cure is, above all, divine, we have 
here man’s authority, man’s resources, man’s magnifi- 
cence, all employed to obtain God’s salvation. 

These are the means man devises to attain the de- 
sired benefit. What is their character? They are 
utterly useless, useless each, useless all. One fatal 
word shows that this is the case, viz., God. The.^e 
would all be useful and profitable if the cure were 
man's, if it were the result of his skill and wisdom 
and power, the expression of his goodwill. But they 
are all useless if the cure is God’s; if it is the gift of 
His wisdom and power and love. 

Surely this is selLevident. No creature can buy or 


NAAMAN THK SYRIAN 


60 


sell, command or restrain, honor or dishonor the gift 
of God. Think of the letter that was written. Can 
Benhadad or Naaman command Him who doetli ac- 
cording to His will in the armies of heaven and 
among the inhabitants of the earth? The very thought 
is treason. Think of the gold and silver and the 
goodly raiment. Can the richest of the sons of men 
bay aught of God Almighty, possessor of heaven and 
earth? The thought is impertinence. Think of the 
retinue. Can the most magnificent of those whose 
greatest glory is as the flow er of grass patronize the 
King eternal, immortal, invisible, before whom the 
angels veil their faces? The thought is insanity. 
How foolish, then, all these preparations of Naaman! 
They were hindrances rather than helps. He is still 
in the greatest darkness. He knows not who this 
God of Israel is. He considers Him to be altogether 
such an one as himself, or as the gods of his own 
people. He knows not what is required of them that 
would worship the true God in sincerity and truth. 
He knows not that the gift of healing that he seeks is 
the exclusive gift of the living God, the creator of 
heaven and earth. How essentially legal is the human 
heart! What a clinging confidence it has in the 
strength of the flesh! 

Are there no more such fools as Naaman now? Is 
the race extinct? Would God it were so, but we dare 
not believe it. Are there not some, yea, many around 
us who seek to command or buy or patronize God's 
salvation? Come let me introduce you to some of 
them; perhaps I will introduce you for the first time 
to yourself. 

There is the man who says: “All men must be 


BEN HA DAD'S PROGRAMME 


51 


saved, however wicked, hardened, and impenitent 
they may have been in life and death. However foul 
their crimes and fiendish their behavior, however 
saturated with sin every thought and feeling, every 
word and action has been, they must be saved.” Yea, 
have we not heard them blasphemously declare: “ A 
God that will not save all men we will not have for 
our God.” In many ways they make it plain that, 
Benhadaddike, they would command God’s salvation. 
“ It cannot be that there is an eternal hell. It must 
be that all will be restored. Somehow good will be 
the final goal of ill. Every winter must change to 
spring. Every sinner must at last be saved.” 

What is this but the sentiment of Naaman’s letter 
repeated more impiously, ay, and after the full reve- 
lation God has made, with infinitely less excuse? 
Such men virtually say: 

“ Go to, God, save all men. You have already said, 
The soul that sinneth it shall die. Blot out ‘ die ’ and 
make it read, The soul that sinneth it shall live. You 
have said, The wicked shall be turned into hell, and 
all the nations that forget God. You must turn them 
all into heaven and abolish hell, You have told us 
that there is a day for the fixing of the eternal destiny 
and condition of each; when that word will be ful- 
filled, He that is unjust let him be unjust still; he 
that is filthy let him be filthy still. This whole idea 
must be reversed. There must be no continuance of 
evil, but contrariwise its gradual elimination, till at 
last it is altogether gone. There must be a process 
whose end can be described in these words, He that 
is unjust let him become just; he that is filthy let him 
become clean. You have written already the sentence 


52 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


that will be uttered over the sinful in the future judg- 
ment, Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared 
for the devil and his angels. That sentence must 
never be pronounced, and now those words should be 
erased from the book and never breathed in the ears 
of man. You have said of some that they will go 
away into everlasting fire. You must stop them on 
the road and bring them back to everlasting felicity. 
You must make that picture of solemn judgment, 
which the gospel contains, a farce and a lie, the hor- 
rid nightmare of a morbid fanaticism.” 

Thus do you speak, O sinner? Then you are the 
true God after all, and you must inform the inferior 
Power that rules the universe what your will is, and 
He must obey you. Oh the horrible blasphemy, the 
unutterable impiety of such a position! 

But there are other sinners of a different stamp. 
Some men who would never dare thus profanely to 
command God’s salvation, think it both right and 
proper to try to purchase it. They cannot conceive 
that God is willing and ready to bestow upon them as 
a free gift all they require as sinful creatures — for- 
giveness, a new nature, eternal life, heaven. There- 
fore, like Naaman, they come with gifts in their 
hands, with which they vainly think to buy the gift 
of God. Most men have naturally rooted in their 
minds the idea that they must do many things in 
order to live. “ If thou wilt enter into life, keep the 
commandments.” This they read, and they conclude 
that Jesus puts this word into their hands as a key 
wherewith to open the prison door of condemnation 
and let them free. Therefore they strive painfully to 
drag their limbs, manacled with sin, towards that 


BE NH AD AD'S PROGRAMME 


53 


ponderous door, and notwithstanding innumerable 
failures, think that somehow success will crown their 
efforts. They do not see that this key hangs at His 
girdle as 

THE GREAT DELIVERER FROM HELL AND DEATH. 

It has never entered their darkened minds that He 
alone, of all the sons of men, can fit the key of perfect 
obedience into the wards of the great lock of the law, 
and shooting back the adamantine bolt of righteous 
condemnation, proclaim the opening of the prison to 
them that are bound. They do not understand that 
deliverance is bestowed by Him as' a free gift, that 
He has already opened the door, and that looking to 
Him as the appointed Deliverer, one touch of His 
Almighty hand will break the iron fetters and make 
them walk forth the Lord’s free men. They do not 
know that Christ has become the end of the law for 
righteousness. 

Now do not think that it is a matter of little mo- 
ment to seek to purchase God’s salvation; it is a sin 
exceeding great. “ Thy money perish with thee ” will 
be uttered to every self-righteous soul as his offer is 
spurned by the Almighty. To offer to buy God’s 
salvation is to mock and to throw contempt on all He 
has done in infinite grace and truth. To think for a 
moment that we can buy it reveals an ignorance of 
God and of ourselves far more appalling than that 
which Naaman exhibited. It is written, “ All our 
righteousnesses are as filthy rags,” and no age ever 
required that truth to be more emphatically reasserted 
than the present. Just as Naaman brought his silver 
and gold and goodly changes of raiment to purchase 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


rA 


a cure, so the sinner brings his righteousnesses, and 
expects God on that account to save him. 

“But,” you say, “no one thinks nowadays of pur- 
chasing an entrance to heaven by silver and gold." 

I am not so sure of that. I have known some 
who seemed to think that on account of their gifts, 
whether religious or benevolent, they would stand a 
good chance in the great day of reckoning. Their 
number I hope is few, yet I am afraid such do exist. 

A great many more do trust in their righteousnesses 
as thoroughly as Naaman trusted in his presents. 
But what are our righteousnesses? Whatever w T e pre- 
sent to God in order that He may be propitiated 
towards us. They may indeed in themselves be 
actually good, as were Naaman’s gifts of gold and 
silver and costly raiment. 

Let us enumerate some of the presents which man 
brings to God to obtain His favor. 

One finds in religious exercises his righteousnesses. 
Listen to him: “ I say my prayers morning and night, 
and my place in church is never vacant. Surely God 
will accept me.” 

Another says: “ I don’t believe in these canting 
hypocrites, forever whining about prayer and talking 
religion till one is sick. I know some of your nice 
longdaced church and chapel people who don’t pay 
me what they owe, and I have no patience with that 
sort of thing. I believe that if a man pays his way 
like a man, if he is a good husband and a kind father, 
he will have a good chance in the long run; as the 
wise poet says: 

“ For forms of faith let wrangling bigots fight, 

He can’t be wrong whose life is in the right.” 


BEN HAD AD'S PROGRAMME 


55 


So your honest respectability and kindness are your 
righteousnesses. 

Still a third says: “ I don’t believe what that poet 
says, and would alter the last line of his couplet a 
little, making it read: 

“ He can’t be right whose life is in the wrong. 

“ He can’t be right whose whole life is spent in 
forgetfulness of what God has given for his direction 
through life. If God has given us His Word and 
planted His Church on earth, it is that we may have a 
true knowledge of Him and of Divine truth, and I 
am sincerely thankful that I have been trained in a 
Church sound and catholic; and let men sneer as they 
may, I count on God’s favor because I am within the 
.pale of this His holy Church, and believe that those 
without are left to His uncovenanted mercies.” 

Then your orthodoxy, your connection with an ec- 
clesiastical company which you call the true Church, 
are your righteousnesses. This is what you like to 
bundle into your chariot when you go in search of 
salvation. 

And so we may go the round and tind that man’s 
righteousnesses present a strange medley. Prayers, 
tears, repentance, honesty, liberality, sobriety, gener- 
osity, kindness, almsgiving, teetotalism, cliurclngoing, 
fasting, orthodoxy: all these in wagon loads; a 
chariot would break down under the burden, for the 
treasures of the self-righteous are far more numerous 
than Naaman’s. Ay, and you look upon them with 
quite as much complacency as did he, often thinking 
how much they will do to advance your interests. 
But God looks upon them too, and what are they to 
Him? He calls them rags, ‘‘filthy rags,” defiled, 


56 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


loathsome, to be put out of sight as soon as possible 
rather than to be considered precious. Our costly 
righteousnesses so far from forwarding our case with 
Him, actually hinder it, and often publicans and 
harlots enter into His kingdom before Pharisees and 
scribes. Yea, those righteousnesses on which we 
depend, actually make us less acceptable to God. 
How can that be? Because He has considered our 
case, He knows what it is to remove our leprosy, He 
knows that we can never work out a righteousness 
that will satisfy Him, therefore He has provided for 
us His own. All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, 
but His righteousness is a spotless robe, wrapped in 
which the vilest sinner can stand before Him pure 
and undefiled. And this righteousness of God is by 
faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that be- 
lieve. Christ is God’s own provision for man’s 
necessities — the present which alone appeases Him. 
Therefore he who brings his own righteousnesses 
omits to present Christ, does not submit himself to 
God’s righteousness, and thus rejects and despises the 
gift of God. 

Now consider how this must touch the heart of 
God. Were it possible for our gifts to buy God’s 
salvation, there would be no need for God’s great 
gift. In other words, if we can save ourselves we 
have no need of a Divine Savior. Think therefore 
of the awful position of every one who depends on 
his own righteousnesses. He practically — that is, in 
the most emphatic and deliberate way — asserts that 
he can save himself, and that therefore there was no 
need that the Word should be made flesh; no need 
for the loneliness and weariness of the Man of sor- 


BENHADAD'S PROGRAMME 


57 


rows; no need for the agony and bloody sweat of 
Gethsemane; no need for the bitter cross, the outer 
darkness, the agonizing cry; no need for any of those 
pains which racked His soul and body. Accordingly 
confidence in your righteousnesses is equivalent to 
an accusation that in bringing these things upon 
Jesus, the Father was guilty of folly, injustice, 
cruelty, and that to His only^begotten and well 
beloved Son. Do you wonder then that He spurns 
from Him all our righteousnesses as filthy rags, worth- 
less, loathsome in His sight, however highly we may 
value them? In love and justice to His Son, in con 
sistency with His own nature, He cannot do other- 
wise, 

Come, let me take up a parable. There was a 
glorious estate which a great king had to dispose of. 
He had bought it at a price so great that only he 
could command it, or even reckon up its sum. There- 
fore for any one to think that he could buy it from 
him would be to make make mock of him. Yet it 
was the desire of this king that those under him 
should have a part in this inheritance and be en- 
riched forever. They could not purchase it, but he 
was willing to bestow it without money and without 
price. On these terms all would have a part in it 
who applied to him. 

A certain man heard of this inheritance, and 
strong was his desire to obtain it. But he would 
not have it on the king’s terms, he thought he must 
purchase it. So he gathered together all that he 
had, and w T ent to seek the king. He went in high 
hope, for had he not with him in his chariot the 
gold of a good heart, the silver of a pure life, and the 


58 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


goodly apparel of a spotless character. Arrived at 
the palace, he stood before the king and told his 
errand. The king was full of patience and condescen- 
sion, and said: 

“What bringest thou for such an inheritance as 
mine, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not 
away? ” 

He answered: “I bring with me in my chariot 
much gold.” 

“ Look and see,” said the king. 

He looked, and lo! the gold was gone. He turned 
to his king in distress, and said: 

“ I thought I had brought with me gold, but it 
has vanished, and I know not what has become of it; 
but, sire, I still have much silver.” 

“ Bring forth the silver,” said the king. 

He went to his chariot and searched diligently, 
but no silver could he find. No one had robbed him. 
He had not lost his treasures by the way. What then 
could this mean? Troubled and perplexed, he turned 
again to the king, and said: 

“Master, master, the silver has vanished like the 
gold, but I have still with me many changes of fair 
garments which I can give thee for thine inheri- 
tance.” 

Again, with unspeakable forbearance the king 
said: “ Bring them forth.” 

This time he went with good hopes, for in search- 
ing for the gold and silver, he had often laid hands 
on the bulky bundle in which the changes of rai- 
ment were wrapped. He opened it carefully to carry 
them to the king. But, oh, horror! His eye fell 
on a sight that made him sick. There was nothing 


BEN HA DA D'S PROGRA MME 


r,o 


but a mass of filthy rags. So vile were they, so 
loathsome that he dared not touch them, far less pre- 
sent them to the king. Despair filled his heart. The 
glorious inheritance could never be his. With tears 
streaming from his eyes, and unable for very shame 
to lift up his head he cried in the very bitterness of 
his soul: 

“Undone! undone! I thought I was rich, but I find 
I have nothing, nothing but filthy rags. God be 
merciful to me a sinner.” 

And what was the answer? The king, when he 
heard that cry, had compassion on him, and ran and 
fell on his neck, and kissed him and said: 

“ Bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and 
put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and 
bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat 
and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive 
again, he was lost and is found.” 

Do you need the interpretation. Take it as given 
in the well known verse: — 

“ Nothing in my hands I bring; 

Simply to Thy cross I cling; 

Naked, come to Thee for dress; 

Helpless, look to Thee for grace; 

Vile, I to the fountain fly — 

Wash me, Savior, or I die!” 

Still a third class seek to patronize God’s salvation. 
Not only the Brahmins in India, but some in Chris- 
tendom, think that being great and looked up to by 
their fellows, they are peculiar favorites of heaven. 
Not a few seem to think that because they occupy 
positions of distinction in this world, so they must in 
the next. Because everything is bent to their incli- 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


0>0 


nation here they dream that so it will be there, 
They conclude that because earthly riches and mag- 
nificence are a passport to all that man thinks good, 
so they will be to heaven. Yea, some have not hesi- 
tated to say that because they were the favorites of 
fortune they must be the favorites of God. Have 
we not heard of a profane woman at the court of one 
of England’s kings, who said of a dead courtier: 

“ Depend upon it, God will think twice before 
damning a man of such quality.” 

Few would put it so coarsely as that nowadays, 
but not a few think that some truth must underlie 
such words. Accordingly, in their ideas hell is only 
built for the canaille, for the vulgar, mean common 
place throng. The magnificence of the great will 
supply a lustre and glory which even heaven would 
be loath to lack. The pearly gates will be flung wide 
open to every ^ lordly Naaman with golden chariot, 
costly gifts, and glittering retinue. 

Nay, nay! Encourage no such delusion. Into that 
city nothing that defiles can enter. Not many rich, 
not many noble walk those golden streets, therefore 
the voice of warning rings especially in the ears of 
such: “Goto, ye rich men, weep and howl.” In the 
great day of the Lamb’s glory, the kings of the earth 
and the great men and the mighty men and the chief 
captains will above all urge the frantic cry to the 
mountains and to the hills; “ Fall on us and cover us 
from the wrath of the Lamb.” Earthly greatness 
and magnificence will be no shelter in that day. 

The fundamental mistake of Benhadad and Naaman 
lay in 


BENHADAD'S PROGRAMME 


61 


IGNORANCE OF THE NATURE OF THE DISEASE 

that had to be dealt with. They knew not that it 
needed the hand of God Almighty, and that man with 
all his skill was unable to touch it. Even so the fun- 
damental evil of errorists of every hue is ignorance of 
the nature of that disease of sin with which they are 
afflicted. God alone can remove it. 

If you come before God as a man of might, strong 
in your own sufficiency, puffed up with your own wis- 
dom, you will get nothing. If you come like a worm, 
having no might or strength, He will tell you that 
Christ died for the ungodly. If you come like a rich 
man, He will not regard you. If you come like a 
beggar, He will fall on your neck and embrace you. 
If you come like a proud and pompous man, He will 
know you afar off and hide Himself. If you come 
like a humble penitent, He will run to meet you, to 
give you the best place at His board, the warmest 
place in His heart. This Man receiveth sinners and 
eateth with them. He fills the hungry with good 
things, the rich He sends empty away. 

Come then, not like proud Naaman, but rather like 
the humblest of God’s creatures, saying— “ Jesus 
Christ is my all in all.” 

This do and thou shalt live. 


V. 


A TRIPLE DISAPPOINTMENT. 

Of all the constellations that sparkle in the sky on 
a winter's night none is more glorious than Orion. 
Old story tells that when blinded Orion, bewailing 
his sad fate to the sound of the moaning sea, heard 
the clang of V ulcan’s hammer on a distant isle, the 
hope that help might there be found sprung up in 
his heart, and guided by the sound, the mighty 
hunter groped his way through the deep floods till 
he came to Lemnos. There, standing with dripping- 
garments in the ruddy glow of the great forge, lie 
besought the grimy god to pity him and pour light 
into his sightless sockets. 

He had come to the wrong place. Vulcan had no 
power to work such wonders: but with accustomed 
good nature, he gave him a guide to lead him to the 
temple of the Sun, where alone such gifts were granted. 

The way was long, the difficulties were great, but 
who can dwell in darkness? and therefore, cheered 
and guided by Melpomene, who sat upon his shoulder, 
the blinded giant struggled on, and reaching at last 
the place 'of light, and waiting humbly there, received 
the boon he craved. And then, when life on earth 
was ended, he was placed as the most splended con- 
stellation in the heavens, to guide others to the end 
of time, as he himself had been guided. 

Is not this fable fulfilled after a glorious fashion in 
62 


A TRIPLE DISAPPOINTMENT 


ea 


the history of Naaman the Syrian? Oppressed with 
sorrow inconsolable, wrapped in darkness that might 
be felt, hope was raised in his heart by the words of 
an Israelitish child, a guide in Divine Providence 
given him; and if disappointment lay in his path, 
and at first he stood at the wrong door, the boon he 
craved was in good time granted, and better far than 
physical health and strength, the light of heaven and 
the knowledge of the living God poured in upon his 
soul, and by God’s appointment he became a lode= 
star in the firmament of revelation, for the guidance 
of seeking souls. There he has been shining brightly 
for many a century. The Son of man pointed out 
this 

STAR OF HOPE 

to the villagers of Nazareth, to commend the sovereign 
mercy and saving might of the living God; and his 
story, if read aright, will guide us one and all to that 
eternal glory which grace has already bestowed on 
him. 

We have seen men devising means to obtain God’s 
salvation— Benhadad and Naaman laying their heads 
together. Now we shall see the result of all their plans. 
It may be summed up in one word — disappointment. 
Invariably this is the case when man sets about such 
work in his own sufficiency; he will find that God 
sends the rich empty away. To all such He declares, 
“ I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, 
and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 
I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even 
a man than the golden wedge of Opliir.” 

Behold how T Naaman comes. 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


01 


Is lie not, bravely furnished for his journey? He 
carries everything that wisdom an suggest. First 
and foremost there is the peren^ ory parchment of 
his king demanding his cure from Jehoram, then 
there are his princely gifts of gold and silver, and 
around him behold that glittering retinue. Certain- 
ly he is in earnest, certainly he is on the right road. 
Every hoof with which his fiery chargers spurn the 
ground brings him nearer recovery. 

So far good. But while his attitude is good, his 
trust is wrong. If his face is turned to God’s land, 
where alone is help, his heart rests in the wise pro- 
vision he has made to ensure success. The right atti- 
tude he owes to the captive maid. The wrong trust 
springs from the devices of Benliadad and his own 
understanding. 

Thus he comes in mingled light and darkness. He 
is truly guided by God’s grace, yet is far from a true 
knowledge either of liis necessities or of God’s power 
and love. Light and darkness, the precious and the 
vile, the corn and the chaff, are mingled. They must 
be separated, and here we shall see how. The process 
may seem hard and rough, but it is good and neces- 
sary. 

Innumerable souls are this day in the very same 
state. They have an inkling of the truth of God. 
They have a little light, and like Naaman they use it. 
They are anxious, they are in dead earnest. But in 
their minds there is a strange jumbling of the law and 
the gospel, a bewildering entanglement of light and 
darkness; a constant hankering after the attainment 
of salvation, not perhaps altogether apart from 
Christ’s finished work, yet certainly not apart from 


.4 TRIPLE DISAPPOINTMENT 


• 65 


their own efforts and resources. “ Do this and live ” 
is a word which to es them with power. “ Believe 
and be saved ” c . /eys no meaning to their minds 
and no peace to their hearts. They are still seeking 
salvation by the works of the law. There is need of 
a divine unraveling, and the process whereby their 
souls are brought to see that salvation is all of grace 
is sometimes long and troublesome. How many are 
like Pilgrim as he set out from the city of Destruc- 
tion, with only a faint glimmering of light, having 
many vain thoughts and confidences, easily misled by 
the plausible theories of worldly=wise men, plunging 
into many a slough of Despondency, before they re- 
alize the meaning of the cross of Christ and His 
empty sepulcher, before they enter into the experi- 
ence of the eighth chapter of Romans, that glorious 
and fertile valley of grace nestling between the two 
mountain ranges of “ no condemnation ” and “ no 
separation.” 

On a hot summer’s day a minister of the gospel 
watched a Newhaven fishwife toiling up to Edinburgh 
with a heavy basket of fish on her back. She stopped to 
rest, and the good man thought- he would try to speak 
a word in season, for in truth the sight of her toiling 
up the hot road forcibly reminded him of the pilgrim 
and his burden in Bunyan’s dream. He found his 
auditor, either from fatigue or some other cause, sin- 
gularly reticent. He talked about the burden of sin, 
the certainty of judgment, the necessity of flight, 
and the deep experiences of an anxious soul. 

At last the woman broke silence, saying: “ I see 
where you are. You are speaking about that man 
Bunyan, who put his pilgrim through so many 


66 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


troubles before he came to the cross and lost his 
burden. I don’t believe in that experience at all.” 

The minister thought he had some miserable scof- 
fer to deal with. Speedily he was undeceived. 
Pointing to her creel she said: 

That’s a heavy burden, but what is it to a load of 
sin? It’s hard work to come up the hill with that 
load on my back, but it would be harder to get to 
heaven with all my sins crushing me down. Under 
that burden I couldn’t move a foot. 

THE THING THAT MADE ME A CHRISTIAN 

was the sight of the cross, where Jesus died for sin- 
ners. There I saw all my sins cast behind God's 
back, into the depths of the sea, and only then did I 
set out from the city of Destruction and become a 
pilgrim and a stranger here. I don’t believe in that 
man Bunyan.” 

Must we say that the woman was right and Bunyan 
wrong, or that Bunyan was right and the woman 
wrong? Nay, there is no contradiction between the 
two. She spoke of entrance on the pilgrim life, as it 
ought to be, as it was in her own happy experience. 
He describes it as it too often is. Recall the case of 
Luther. He might have sat for the original of Bun- 
yan’s pilgrim. What a long severe struggle there 
was before assurance filled his soul. What a terrible 
interval between the breaking in of the first gleam of 
hope through the cranny of that clause in the creed 
“ I believe in the forgiveness of sins,” and the outpour- 
ing of that flood of day which forever dissipated the 
darkness through God's Word, “ The just shall live by 
faith ” Therefore never despise the seeking soul, 


A TRIPLE DISAPPOINTMENT 


67 


however great its ignorance, however tortuous its 
course. 

See where Naaman halts. He has at last safely ar- 
rived in the land to which he was directed, and now 
he remembers the directions of Benhadad and takes 
them for his guide. Everything the Jewish maid had 
said seem to have slipped from his memory. And 
where does this bring him ? To the wrong door. 

Ah, sinner, when you consult your own wisdom, to 
how many wrong doors are you brought? You stand 
a blind beggar before a beggar’s door, or perchance at 
the door of a deserted house where no succor can be 
found. Pitiful is your case. 

Now the process of divine enlightenment is com- 
menced. Speedily Naaman is taught the uselessness 
of Benhadad’s means, and so some of his darkness is 
dispelled. 

No doubt the sheeb anchor of all Naaman’s hopes 
w T as his royal master’s letter, therefore it is now pro- 
duced. Halting before Joram’s palace, Naaman’s 
chief officer is sent in with that weighty missive, 
from which so much was expected. 

The letter is received and read, but it produces a 
very different effect from what w r as anticipated. 
Blank consternation is depicted on the poor king’s 
countenance. He rends his garments in excess of 
grief. He is driven distracted, and cries in conster- 
nation: 

“ Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this 
man doth send unto me to recover a man of his lep- 
rosy? ” 

He v can only think that Benhadad is determined to 
pick 3 quarrel with him and find an excuse for in- 


08 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


vasion. 

“Consider, I pray you,” he says to his courtiers as 
he makes known the astounding demand; “Consider, 
I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against 
me.” 

Thus you see that this letter, so pointed, so busi- 
nesslike, so authoritative, is 

NOT WORTH THE PARCHMENT 

on which it is written. 

The officer returns to his master and describes what 
has occurred. Naaman in his turn is confounded. 
His heart sinks in despair. All his trouble has been 
taken in vain. He has been utterly misled. 

Ought such a scene as this to have occurred? Did 
not Jehoram in this matter sin very grievously? 
Here is a Gentile, an enemy of Israel, all the way 
from Damascus to inquire concerning the power of 
Jehovah, and this is the miserable exhibition the 
king of Israel makes. Has he forgotten that there is 
a God in Israel? Does he not know that there is a 
prophet in Samaria? Has he such a poor memory 
for the wonders done on his own behalf, such short- 
lived gratitude for Divine favors bestowed? Has he 
forgotten the empty trenches miraculously filled with 
w T ater, and the thirst of the soldiers of three armies 
quenched? Has he so soon forgotten the great vic- 
tory God gave him over Moab? 

How miserable is the memory of man! Are not 
most of God’s mercies written in water? Surely 
Joram’s forgetfulness, ingratitude, ignorance and 
despair show a heart unacquainted with God’s ways, 
a mind that will not receive knowledge, a soul dead 


A TRIPLE DISAPPOINTMENT 


69 


in sin. Naaman the heathen soldier did more honor 
to the God of Israel than did Israel’s king. Faith in 
His power, though mingled with much imperfection, 
had brought him all the way from Damascus. Un- 
belief rent Joram’s garments. Naaman had only the 
word of a child. Joram had Moses and David, and 
the words and wonders of God’s prophets. Truly the 
last is first and the first last. 

Yet do not think this strange. Many in Christian 
lands with exceptionally good opportunities may be 
put to shame by the earnestness and sincerity of 
heathen souls who have only an inkling of the truth. 

How useless is this royal unbeliever to Naaman! 
What a contrast there is between him and the Hebrew 
maid! Think of her simple desire: “Would God 
that my master were with the prophet, for he would 
recover him,” and then of his frantic ravings: “Am I 
God? ” Contrast her helpfulness, and his useless- 
ness. Learn therefore that usefulness in divine mat- 
ters flows not from place, but from faith. You think 
you would be very useful if you were very great, very 
rich, or very powerful. The tiniest rushlight twink- 
ling in the darkness is of more service than the most 
powerful electric lamp unillumined. The captive 
helped Naaman, the king hindered him. Beware 
that ye be not as Joram, a hindrance to seeking souls! 

Consider then the scene. There stands Naaman 
at the door without, confounded and perplexed, not 
knowing which way to turn; and there is Joram 
within, with rent garments, on the brink of despair. 
What have w T e here? Man at his icifs end. 

Now God comes in; for if man is seeking God, God 
is also seeking man. Yea, first of all, God is the 


10 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


seeker. Ah, Naaman! His eye of love has been fixed 
on thee from all eternity. The mysterious wheels of 
His providence have been revolving for thy good. 
He will allow nothing to thwart the outgoings of His 
grace towards thee. 

Suddenly, when all are in perplexity, the servant of 
Elisha appears. He comes with a message — a mes- 
sage of reproof to Joram: “ Wherefore hast thou rent 
thy clothes?” — a message of encouragement to Naa- 
man: “ Let him come now to me and he shall know 
that there is a prophet in Israel.” 

How gracious is this interposition! Elisha is not 
hurt or offended at the slight that has been put upon 
him. How dignified is his attitude! He magnifies 
his high office. How Christlike is his invitation! 
Are not his words those of a Greater? Can we not 
here catch the accents of the Christ the Savior of 
mankind? Have you been disappointed in your 
search for salvation ? Have you reached the verge of 
despair? To thee Jesus says, as Elisha said to Naa- 
man: 

“ Come now to me. Come to me. You have made 
a great mistake, you have gone to the wrong door, 
perhaps to many wrong doors. I am the way, the 
truth and the life. No man cometli to the Father 
but by me, Come now to me. After you have tried 
in vain to find help elsewhere, after you have stood in 
despair before so many doors where no help is to be 
found, come now. I am not offended, I will not turn 
you away, I will give you rest. Come now and let us 
reason together; though your sins be as scarlet they 
shall be as white as snow; though they be red like 
crimson they shall be as wool.” 


A TRIPLE DISAPPOINTMENT 


71 


Mark next where Naaman is led. 

He sees the messenger, and learning whence he 
comes, recalls the words of the maid concerning the 
great prophet, and at once resolves to turn his back 
on the palace of the helpless king and betake himself 
to Jehovah’s servant. Surely all will now be well; 
there can be no more disappointment. And truly he 
may have high hope; for though he has no definite 
promise as yet concerning his case, he has an invita- 
tion to come to God’s prophet, coupled with the de- 
claration that he would behold the mighty power of 
Jehovah. “Let him come now to me, and he shall 
know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 

But though the prospect is brighter, every obstacle 
to his cure has not yet been removed. First he went 
to the wrong door; now we shall see him 

AT THE EIGHT DOOR, BUT IN THE WRONG ATTITUDE. 

He has more lessons to learn, more darkness has to 
be dispelled. At the door of the king he has been 
taught the uselessness of Benhadad’s letter; at the 
door of the prophet he must be taught the uselessness 
of his money and his retinue. God’s prophet will 
neither accept the one nor even look upon the other. 
Thus, every false confidence must be swept away ere 
he experience God’s saving might. 

Why are some souls so long in coming to peace in 
believing? It is because, like Naaman, they have 
many false confidences, and often they must be put 
through trying and painful experiences before they 
are brought to an end of self, and see that they must 
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the 
flesh. 


72 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


Behold this Syrian soldier comes, his face flushed 
with eager expectation. He dashes up to Elisha’s 
door and quickly halts. Now is the decisive mo- 
ment. He arranges himself and his followers for the 
momentous tableau, and waits with dignified impa- 
tience the wonderful denouement. Suddenly Eli- 
sha’s door opens and there appears — no venerable 
prophet to smite the fell disease and make it fly for- 
ever, but instead, an underling with the meagre mes- 
sage : 

“ Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh 
shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.” 

Ere Naaman fully realized the meaning of these 
words, Geliazi had vanished, the prophet’s door was 
shut, and Naaman was again alone among his soldiers. 

We have seen a king’s folly, now behold a captain’s. 
Naaman gazes at the closed door. He can scarce be- 
lieve either his ears or his eyes. 

“What! Is this all? Have I come all the way 
from Damascus to be fooled after this fashion? The 
thing is intolerable. Wash in Jordan! What is 
Jordan that I should wash there? And who is this 
rude prophet who sends his servant to command me 
tli us? ” 

To be thus (as he thinks) insulted— invited to 
come to the prophet, and then to have the door 
slammed in his face — is too much for the high-spirited 
captain whose whisper commands thousands. Anger 
boils furiously in his heart, and he turns and goes 
away in a rage. 

It has been well said that three words describe the 
position of Naaman here — “ Near, yet far.” How 
near is he? How near the fulfilment of his most 


A TRIPLE DISAPPOINTMENT 


7S 


ardent, wishes — that cure which for many years, he 
had not even dared to dream was possible. How 
many difficulties have been overcome. A message of 
hope has been received and believed; earnest action 
has been taken; a long journey undertaken; miscon 
ceptions to a certain extent corrected. He stands at 
•the door of the only man on earth who has power to 
heal him; yea, he has received what may be called an 
infallible prescription for his cure, consisting of two 
parts, a command and a promise. The command is 
clear, simple, easy of fulfilment: “ Go and wash in 
Jordan seven times.” The promise is short, absolute, 
unmistakable: “ Thou shalt be clean.” Certainly the 
message of Israel’s prophet is as much to the point as 
was the letter of Syria’s king. What more could 
Naaman have this side perfect recovery? Is he not 
near? 

Yet is he far. Outwardly, so far as God and His 
message are concerned, there is nothing between him 
and perfect recovery. Inwardly, so far as his own 
thoughts and feelings are concerned, there is much. 
He has still to travel a road far more difficult than 
that which stretches between Damascus and Samaria. 
Here there are many mountains and hills that have to 
be made low, many valleys that have to be exalted, 
many crooked places to be made straight, and rough 
idaces plain. Many rugged miry pits are there to be 
filled up, ere God’s salvation is attained. This is the 
way by which he is now coming, and all the while a 
dense mist hangs upon that bleak path, and a fierce 
storm rages to beat him back. See the mist of 
heathen ignorance. Hark, in his hasty words, the 
howling of a hurricane of unreasoning wrath. His. 


74 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


high hopes blasted, his gifts despised, his magnifi- 
cence ignored, his pride humbled — fury works within 
his heart, and he turns and goes away in a rage. He 
is as helpless before this outburst of anger as an au- 
tumn leaf before the blast. 

See also towering between him and God's salvation 
the cold proud heights of his own ideas and foregone 
conclusions: “ Behold, I thought, he will surely come 
out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the 
Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, 
and recover the leper.” 

Yes, you see 

NAAMAN HAD ARKANGED A COMPLETE PROGRAMME 

of the ceremony that was to be performed over him 
when he should be cured. It w r as to be an imposing 
scene of which he should be the great central figure. 
Having such ideas, nothing could be more galling 
than the conduct of the prophet. It completely set 
aside all his plans, thwarted all his ideas of propriety, 
and cut him to the quick. 

Also, stretching between him and his heart’s desire, 
we see the slippery paths of pride. 

“Wash in Jordan,” said Elisha. 

“Jordan forsooth,” said this Syrian; “what is 
Jordan, and why should I wash in that contemptible 
stream? What possible good could that do the leper? 
Have its troubled waters any medicinal virtues un- 
dreamt of before?” 

Behold, again, there is between him and recovery 
the deep miry slough of childish petulance and ob- 
stinacy. 

“ Are not Abana and Pliarpar, rivers of Damascus, 


A TRIPLE DISAPPOINTMENT 


75 


better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash 
in them and be clean? May I not in this matter have 
my own way? What is the use of all the trouble to 
which I have put myself, if a bath in running water 
is the proper cure? ” 

“ So he turned and went away in a rage.” Sad 
words these. Away ! where from ? The door of hope, 
the stream of salvation, perfect recovery, the knowl- 
edge of God. Away! where to? An unhappy home, 
a hopeless religion, a loathsome life, a premature 
death, an undone eternity. Ah! Naaman, thy name 
is a mockery. It may mean “ pleasantness,” but thy 
life shall spell out “bitterness” to its bitter end if 
t lion goest thus. How sad, to be so near and yet so far ! 

Where is the root of this great evil? It is here. 
Naaman comes to God’s prophet as a man of great 
consequence and wants to be treated as such. He 
thinks a great deal of himself, and wishes Elisha to 
do the same. He wishes to be dealt with as a great, 
man who happened to be a leper, not as a leper who 
happened to be a great man. He comes as somebody, 
not as anybody. His greatness, dignity, riches, influ- 
ence, importance, bulk most largely in his thoughts; 
he forgets his misery, loathsomeness, helplessness, 
dependence. Hence his rage, and rejection of God’s 
plan of recovery. 

Is Naaman’s error ever repeated? Often. How 
many come to God thinking a great deal of them- 
selves, and therefore indulging the delusive thought 
that they will be treated with exceptional considera- 
tion and humored in all their whims and fancies. 
Such will always be dealt with as was Naaman, for 
“ God resisteth the proud.” 


76 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


You would like to come to God as a somebody, a 
creature of great consequence. You will not come to 
Him just as a sinner, miserable, helpless, absolutely 
dependent on His grace. You think you are rich and 
increased in goods and have need of nothing; you 
know not that you are poor and wretched and miser- 
able and blind and naked. You would like God to 
modify His plan of salvation for your special benefit, 
and make the way to heaven easier for you than for 
your fellow'Sinners. Especially you think that it 
ought to be easier for the rich to get into the king- 
dom of heaven than for the poor. You do not like 
that passage which says that it is easier for a camel 
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man 
to enter the kingdom of heaven. Perhaps you had 
thought that the Revised Version of the New Testa- 
tament would make matters easier for sinners, learned, 
polite, refined, and wealthy, and you have been 
greatly disappointed that it has not done so. You 
would like God to change His plan of heaven, and 
have a front door for sinners of quality, and a back 
door for the harlot, the drunkard, and the thief. 

No, no, it cannot be! All the gates of the New 
Jerusalem shine with the same pearly radiance. No 
one is more glorious than its neighbor. From what- 
ever quarter sinners come — north, south, east or west 
— they enter by a gate as glorious as all its fellows. 
Yea, has not the Son of man stood among us and 
cried — “ I am the door ”? There is only the one way 
for all. Sinners of every class and condition, rich 
and poor, polite and vulgar, respectable and disreput- 
able, wise and foolish, learned and ignorant, must 
rub shoulders as they pass through the same door, or 


A TRIPLE DISAPPOINTMENT 


77 


rather must follow each other one by one as they en- 
ter in at the strait gate which leadeth to life eternal. 
Here the rich and the poor meet together, for God is 
the maker of them all. 

But how many around will talk just like Naaman, 
who said: “ Behold, I thought.” You have been told 
the plan of salvation, that it is of faith, that it might 
be by grace. The mystery of the cross of Christ has 
been explained, the love of God magnified before you, 
the finished work of the Redeemer plainly unfolded. 
But instead of accepting God’s salvation as clearly 
and freely offered, you have said : 

“ I think something more is required. I think this 
mode of salvation by faith alone is much too simple. 
Moreover, it does not commend itself to my intellect. 
I do not understand what relation the death of an- 
other man can have to my salvation. I think no one 
can suffer for my sins except myself. I cannot see 
how there can be such a transaction as substitution.” 

Just so, Naaman could see no connection between 
his cure and bathing in Jordan. He could not un- 
derstand it. It seemed absurd, so he. turned and 
went away in a rage. This was his folly, and so it 
will be yours if you do not accept God’s gospel and 
cease from your egotistical “ I think.” 

Others say: “ I have read the Bible, I have studied 
Christianity, and I think there are many things more 
attractive in science and philosophy than in Chris- 
tianity, and that those have done far more good to 
mankind than this. I think that from many of the 
world’s sages flow rivers of wisdom far superior to the 
narrow, crooked, muddy stream of Bible wisdom.” 

Just so. You also follow Naaman, who looked with 


78 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


admiration on Abana and Pharpar, and despised the 
tortuous and troubled Jordan. The Abana of cosmo- 
politan science, the Pharpar of philosophy — these are 
indeed something to boast of; but the shallow and 
constricted stream of Jewish religious thought is 
beneath contempt. 

You think! Cease from talking thus. What right 
have you to think after the God who has made you 
has spoken to you concerning these matters? To 
think, to debate, to contrive, to prescribe about sub- 
jects which He has eternally settled, manifests pride 
of heart, estrangement from His love, rebellion 
against His will. Have you never read, “ Let the 
wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his 
thoughts, and let him return to our God, and He will 
abundantly pardon ” ? 

Will God’s glorious plan of redemption be altered 
or in any degree modified on account of the thoughts 
of a sinner and rebel such as you? 

Nay, nay, indulge no such delusion. Naaman got 
no more than a command and a promise, neither will 
you. If he had not acted upon the word that was 
given him, he would have perished miserably. If you 
do not act on what God has said to you, you must 
perish eternally. Listen to the voice of God — “ Be- 
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
be saved.” There is the command, — “believe”; 
there is the promise, — “ thou shalt be saved.” Thus 
it stands: the divine and perfect expression of the 
only plan of salvation. Take it you may. Leave it 
you may. Alter it you cannot. What then are you 
to do with it? 


VI. 


WISE COUNSEL 

“ Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow 
myself before the high God? Shall I come before 
Him with burnbofferings, with calves of a year old? 
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or 
with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my 
firstborn for my transgression, the .fruit of my body 
for the sin of my soul? ” 

This fearful soliloquy, with its agonizing climax, 
is neither unnatural nor incomprehensible. It is 
merely the application in the highest possible field of 
the axiomatic principle that any sacrifice is wise that 
entails a higher benefit. And if the soul is what it 
feels itself to be, an immortal essence capable of high- 
est weal or deepest woe, what can be of more sur- 
passing moment than its state forever and ever? 
Every sacrifice in time, however great, must be a 
gain if it paves the w T ay to paradise. Hence arise the 
asceticisms, pains, selL mortifications, cruelties of 
mam elaborated systems of religion. 

Christianity does not deny that a great work has 
to be done in order that heaven be ours. So far it 
agrees with other systems. Its peculiarity consists in 
the declaration that this great work has been done. 
The gospel is the announcement of a finished work; 
a cry to mankind to be reconciled to God by the 
death of His Son. Now if men are ready to do great 
79 


80 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


things in order to win eternal life, much rather should 
they fall in with God’s plan when He says, “ Believe 
and live.” Their willingness to do such things con- 
demns them if they reject God’s way of salvation. 

Such thoughts as these are naturally suggested by 
the words of Naaman’s servants to their disappointed 
master. They have been silent but interested wit- 
nesses of all that has transpired. Elisha, by the 
drift of his message and by the manner in which it 
was given, had overturned all Naaman’s plans and ig- 
nored his greatness, and it was too much for the 
hasty soldier. White with rage he turned and went 
away. 

White with rage! ay, and 

STILL WHITE WITH LEPROSY 

No better for all his plans and pains. Hitherto his 
attitude has been full of hope, now there is nothing 
but despair. Up to this point he has been coming, 
now T he is going — going uncured. He had been com- 
ing because of his need; he is going because of his 
pride. He had been coming because he knew him- 
a miserable leper; he is going because he thinks him- 
self a great man. He had been coming because of 
his faith in the word of a child ; he is going because 
he has despised the word of God’s prophet. He is 
oscillating between Samaria and Damascus, Jordan 
and Abana, health and misery, life and death. What 
will be the result? 

Momentous question in his case, and in the case 
of every undecided soul. How many, like Naaman, 
are oscillating between God’s gospel and their own 
ideas, God’s salvation and man’s pretences, life and 


WISE COITNSEL 


81 


death, heaven and hell. 

At this critical juncture in the experience of Naa- 
man we cannot but admire the wisdom and tact of 
his dependents, and in the long run we also rejoice 
in the frankness and honesty of the hasty soldier 
himself. 

Listen to the words of Naaman’s servants: — 

“ His servants came near, and spake unto him, and 
said, My father, if the prophet had told thee to do 
some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? 
How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, 
and be clean.” 

Surely these words make it evident that Naaman 
is blessed with good servants. There are few higher 
blessings; alas that they are not more common! No 
class lias more frequent or better opportunities of 
doing good in a quiet way, of making homedife purer 
and happier; and no class can do more evil, poison- 
ing all the springs of social life. Servants can be like 
sunbeams, making everything bright and pleasant. 
They can be like bush smoke, or, worse still, a Lon- 
don fog, making everything dark and irritating. 

It is very clear that these men were no boors. 
Nothing could exceed the respect with which they 
addressed their master. They knew their own place, 
and they could keep it with becoming dignity and 
good taste. Even when they set themselves to the 
very delicate task of challenging his conduct, they 
were guilty of no breach of decorum. They were so 
respectful that every syllable told. Surely they teach 
a good lesson in courtesy. Some blunt natures seem 
to think that boorishness is faithfulness. Others 
more waspish think that scolding is honesty, and im- 


82 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


pertinence smartness. . Naaman’s servants show a 
more excellent way. 

But other men err in the opposite direction. There 
are many honey-tongued flatterers among dependents 
who think only to please, not (like Naaman’s servants) 
to do good. The error of such is even more danger- 
ous than that of the former. They are true children 
of that father of lies who turns himself into an angel 
of light. Had these servants of Naaman been fawn- 
ing sycophants, or time-serving hypocrites, who look 
only after themselves, they would have applauded 
Naaman to the echo. The policy of such miserable 
natures is to smooth and soothe their superiors with 
paltry praise, to stroke them with the hair till they 
purr again. They are willing to do any work, no 
matter how mean, so that they may profit thereby. 
Naaman’s servants were of another sort. They had 
the manliness to have a mind of their own and to 
speak it out. Had they been mere parasites they 
would have sided with Naaman and flattered him in 
his foolish anger, and perhaps have asked permission 
to punish the prophet for his impertinence. Instead 
of this, they could see no just cause for Naaman’s 
anger, and in due time told him so. 

And this shows that they were no cowards. Men 
of true principle, men of true courtesy never are. If 
these men had been cowards their tongues would 
have been tied. They would not have dared to utter 
a syllable which gave the faintest hint that they dis- 
approved of the conduct of their master. 

Neither were they cynics. They were not indiffer- 
ent to the well-being of their master. Some servants 
might have coldly said: 


WISE COUNSEL 


83 


“ It’s all the same to us whether or not he is cured. 
Why should we trouble ourselves about his state? 
We are not paid for giving advice. We give what we 
are paid for, and as little of this as possible, just as 
much eye-service as will pass muster.” 

Thus argue some unprincipled servants, and had 
Naaman’s been of this stamp they would never have 
uttered a word of expostulation. Indeed they would 
have been rather glad of the rage which drove them 
back to their comfortable quarters at home and the 
many pleasures of the gay capital of Syria. But these 
men make their master’s welfare their interest. They 
identify themselves with his sorrows as well as his 
joys, and they cannot hold their peace. They will 
interfere to save him from himself. 

It is also plain that these men were no fools. It 
is well to speak the truth, but even the truth will 
be less powerful if not spoken at the right time and 
in the right tone. How sensible are their remarks, 
how irresistible their logic! They possess a large 
share of that uncommon quality, common-sense. 
They know when to be silent as well as when to 
speak. To have uttered a word when Naaman was 
in a passion would have been folly. It would only 
have added fuel to the fire, and defeated the object 
they had in view by making Naaman determined to 
reject the counsel of the prophet. Therefore they let 
him cool down, and quietly bide their time. They 
knew the man they had to deal with. They knew 
that, though very choleric, he would listen to reason 
if taken in the right way; ay, and he would listen to 
reason from the lips. So they patiently waited and 
watched, and when they saw him sink back in his 


84 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


chariot, and the old sad cloud settle on his counte- 
nance, they glanced at each other as if saying, “Now 
is our time,” and approaching his chariot respectfully 
addressed him. 

“ My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some 
great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much 
rather then when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean.” 

Were not these wise servants? Their respectful- 
ness, faithfulness, courage, affection, wisdom are all 
admirable. 

I respect them so highly that I would fain imitate 
them, I would like to speak to you in regard to the 
state of your soul as they did to Naaman about his 
leprosy. You have taken up this book, perhaps out 
of mere curiosity, perhaps to while away a weary 
hour, perhaps to please a friend. As you have read, 
you have found that its burden is: “Believe on the 
Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved.” 

“Oh!” you say impatiently, “I knew that long 
ago. There’s nothing new in that. I should like to 
hear something else; something more rational, some- 
thing more attractive. That is stale.” 

Let me speak to you with all respect. Perhaps 
you are older, wiser, and much more experienced than 
I, but I am sure you are wrong in turning your back 
on God’s plan of salvation through faith in the Lord 
Jesus Christ. I know also that this mistake is fatal, 
it must end in everlasting loss. 

I would also speak with all plainness, for I am 
afraid some preachers and writers flatter and encour- 
age you in your wayward and rebellious moods. 
They assure you that you are quite right in reject- 
ing such a plan of salvation. They tell you that no 


WISE COUNSEL 


85 


fatal results can possibly follow. Listen to the voice 
of God! Beware of these prophets of smooth things. 
They lure you to your destruction. There is 

NO HOPE FOR YOU IN TIME AND IN ETERNITY 

outside of the g*ospel of the grace of God. Here 
God declares that He has provided all that you 
require. He has done so at infinite cost. He has 
published it to you by His own Son. How can we 
escape if we neglect so great salvation? 

I would also speak to you with all boldness. There 
stands the Word firmer than the everlasting hills, and 
we dare not bate a tittle of it: “ He that believeth 
on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that be- 
lieveth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath 
of God abide tli on Him.” 

I would speak with all affection. I am concerned 
about your happiness. Though I know you not 
face to face, I know that you have a heart formed 
for God, a heart that cannot be satisfied apart from 
Him; capacities and aspirations sublime and far 
reaching; a future of infinite possibilities either of 
happiness or misery, holiness or sin. Time, with all 
its wants and achievements, its disappointments and 
successes, its perplexities and certainties, its longings 
and despairings, its grief and gladness, is passing 
swiftly away. Death, the ghastly king, sits somewhere 
in the misty future, how near you cannot tell, ready to 
lay his ruthless hand upon your heart, and crushing 
out its life-blood, cast you down to dust. Eternity, 
eternity! the hour of purged sight and fixed doom, of 
bliss unalloyed, of misery without abatement, — eter- 
nity is at the door. And with eternity, — yea, as its 


86 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


first fact, — there stands out the great white throne, 
the Divine retrospect of this world’s history; when all 
the dramas of life are summed up; when the dead 
are judged out of the things written in the books 
and according to their works; when for every one not 
written in the book of life one place is prepared, — 
he is “ cast into a lake of fire.” For time, for death, 
for judgment, for eternity, oh! repent and believe in 
the gospel. Thousands upon thousands can trace 
with absolute certainty all their happiness in life, 
their peace in the prospect of death, their boldness 
in view of judgment, their glorious hope for eternity, 
to this one thing — faith in Jesus of Nazareth, the 
crucified Son of the living God. This happiness, 
this peace, this boldness, this hope may be yours — it 
is yours — if, as you are and even now, you cast your- 
self on the love of God as manifested in the Lord 
Jesus. 

Still further let me plead with you after the 
manner of Naaman’s servants. If I told you to do 
some great thing to obtain eternal life, would you not 
do it? You would be ready for any penance and morti- 
fication that might be laid on you so as to attain this 
end. Every false system of religion takes this for 
granted. It is this which gives them their amazing 
mastery over human souls. If then you would do 
some great thing to enter into life, how much more 
ought you to fall in with God’s plan: “Believe and 
live.” Surely, if it is only an experiment it is easy 
to try it. It can do no harm if it does no good. 
Learn wisdom from Naaman the Syrian. Imitate 
his action in the spiritual sphere, and for your soul’s 
salvation. It is your only hope. 


WISE COUNSEL 


87 


Notice next the response of Naaman. 

He listens to the words of his servants. He knows 
that they are in the right. 

“ What a fool I have been,” he cries from the depth 
of his heart. 

At once he changed his mind. He forgot all 
about his letter and his riches and his retinue; 
obedience to the word of the prophet was everything 
now. Even so must you change your mind. Your 
attainments and recommendations must be utterly 
set aside God’s Word and obedience thereto must be 
everything if you would have His salvation. 

And changing his mind he changed his road. 
“To the Jordan! to the Jordan!” is now the cry. 
He cannot rest until he reaches the appointed 
place, 

We may most assuredly conclude that Naaman 
saw no necessary connection between bathing in Jor- 
dan and being cured of his leprosy. But the virtue of 
these waters was not dependent on this, but on God’s 
appointment. As a matter of fact, the waters of 
Jordan were in themselves as powerless to heal 
Naaman as were those of Abana and Pharpar. 
Everything turned on submission to the Divine will 
and obedience to the Divine ordinance. 

Is there a similar difficulty in your mind in regard 
to the cross of Christ? Is it a stumbling-block and 
foolishness in its relation to your salvation? Is it 
impossible for you to see any connection whatever 
between the blood of Jesus and the cleansing of 
your sins? We know that, unlike the waters of Jor- 
dan, the blood of Jesus has a necessary relation to 
the cleansing of sin, for “ without shedding of blood 


88 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


there is no remission of sins.” But it is not neces- 
sary, so far as your cleansing is concerned, that you 
should see that connection. It is sufficient if you 
believe what God has said and act up to His 
directions. If you are as utterly in the dark in 
regard to the relation that the blood of Christ has to 
your cleansing as Naaman was in regard to the rela- 
tion that the washing in Jordan had to his cure, that 
will not prevent it if you only act as he did, accord- 
ing to the Divine directions. Jordan was the 
fountain God opened for Naaman’s leprosy. This is 
the fountain He has opened for your uncleanness: 
“The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all 
sin.” 

See Naaman, then, on the banks of Jordan. He 
has to dismount and descend, for God’s salvation is 
lower than the lowest. We have to go downwards, 
not upwards, to be partakers of it. He had to leave 
everything behind him, — chariot and horses, soldiers, 
letter, gold, silver, goodly raiment. Thus we have to 
renounce our trust in all we are and have in receiv- 
ing God’s great gift. Our word must be — 

“ Nothing in my hand I bring, 

Simply to Thy cross I bring!” 

He had to enter the waters of Jordan unclean and 
unclothed, a leper confessed and exposed. So have 
we to come to the Fountain of life, altogether as an 
unclean thing, without any cloak or excuse or pallia- 
tion, but simply as confessed and exposed sinners. 

Then had Naaman to wash seven times in the Jor- 
dan. Seven times, to show that the application 
of the cleansing waters was complete. Seven times, 
even as David cried, “ Wash me thoroughly from mine 


WISE COUNSEL 


89 


iniquity.” The blood of Jesus must be thoroughly 
applied to the soul ere it becomes “ whiter than 
snow.” 

See the grand result! Six times the great captain 
plunged beneath the flowing waters while his re- 
tainers gazed from the bank with deepest solici- 
tude. Six times, and still no change. The dread 
disease still asserts its mastery and shows its loath- 
some signs. For the seventh time he sinks be- 
neath the wave, he emerges, and lo! his flesh has 
become like that of a little child. He comes up 
from that dark flood 

WITH BUOYANT STEP AND THANKFUL HEART, 

a new man, as if born again. The astonished sol- 
diers gaze upon their master. No spot of disease re- 
remains. The Divine promise is fulfilled. The God 
of Israel is the God of truth, the God of power, the 
God of love. , 

Dost thou believe in the Lord Jesus? Then at once 
thy sins are forgiven. Thou art a new man, born 
again, born from above, born of water and of blood. 

How long did it take to work this wonder? At 
the very longest, supposing that there was a gradual 
betterment after each plunge, how swift must it have 
been. Is not the rapidity of this cure part of its 
glory? Do not murmur then at those who are sud- 
denly raised from spiritual death to life. Do not say 
that you cannot believe in sudden conversions. Can- 
not God work in the spiritual sphere as in the physic- 
al? . Yea, is not this very cure a model of His man- 
ner of working in removing the uncleanness of sin? 
The instant Jesus utters the words, “Thy sins are 


00 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


forgiven thee,” they are blotted out as a thick cloud. 
Kemember the- jailor at Philippi; one moment a 
hardened desperate sinner hovering on the brink of 
eternal destruction, the next moment a kind and ten- 
der-hearted servant of God’s ministers. That jailor 
was as much a new man morally and spiritually as 
was Naaman physically. And it was the same prin- 
ciple in each that wrought the wonder, — faith in the 
word of God. 

It must be so. Did Naaman act up to the directions 
of God’s prophet? then God’s glory is involved in 
his cure. Did the jailor believe on the Lord Jesus? 
God’s glory is involved in his salvation. Do you, 
friend, do you, defiled and undone, rest yourself on 
His Word of grace? then His glory is also involved in 
your salvation, you must have eternal life. For if a 
single soul that puts its trust in Him were turned 
into hell, then, as the old Scotch woman put it, He 
would have the greater loss; for He would break His 
promise, He would lose His good name, He would 
cease to be God, and all the universe would run to 
ruin. 


VII. 


LIVELY GRATITUDE. 

“ Wliat shall I render to the Lord for all His bene- 
fits to me ? ” This is the instinctive cry of the soul that 
has tasted that God is gracious. Every heart that has 
been opened to receive His great gift longs to mani- 
fest its gratitude by outward act of devotion. Thus 
was it with Naaman. Rejoicing in the new life 
Jehovah had bestowed upon him, feeling like a man 
brought back from the grave, he hastened from Jor- 
dan to express his deep thankfulness and to press his 
gifts upon the man of God. 

When he left the prophet’s door in such high dud- 
geon, he little dreamt that he so soon would return, 
and such an altered man, — born again in body, born 
again in soul. Had his heart been unchanged there 
would have been no return to Samaria. Had he been 
thankless and selfish he would have gone on his way 
to Damascus and wasted neither time nor thought 
upon Elisha. Had he been proud he would never 
have sought a second interview with the man who 
seemed to treat him so rudely. But so thankful was 
he, so humble, that he would rather make an apology 
for his own foolish anger than go home without 
returning thanks. His heart is not haughty nor 
his eyes lofty; he is as a weaned child. The spiritual 
change is marvelous, yes, and more pleasing in the 
sight of God than that outward change which oc- 
91 


92 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


curred when, rising out of Jordan, liis flesh came upon 
him like that of a little child. The once haughty 
and imperious captain, by this act and all his after 
conduct, unfolds the meaning of that deep word — “ Ex- 
cept ye be converted and become as little children, ye 
shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven.” His 
gratitude and humility are both beautiful, and expres- 
sive of that great inner change which characterizes 
every child of the kingdom of heaven. 

God expects gratitude; is disappointed if He does 
not receive it. When only the Samaritan leper re- 
turned to give thanks for recovery, did not the Mas- 
ter miss the rest, and ask in tones of disappointed 
love: 

“ Where are the nine?” 

“ Oh that men would praise the Lord for His good- 
ness and for His wonderful works to the children of 
men.” 

Returning a new man, Naaman was at once admit- 
ted into the presence of the prophet. On his way to 
the Jordan, defiled with leprosy, he could not see the 
face of the man of God; but now, ceremonially clean, 
no barrier is put in his way. Naaman had been 
brought up in ignorance of Israelitish institutions, 
and knew not that the presence of a leper such as he 
would impart a taint which every faithful Israelite 
abhorred; a taint which would debar him from many 
privileges and necessitate many minute and tedious 
cleansing processes. Faitlifulnes to the ordinance of 
God, as well as the knowledge of the disabilities of 
the defiled, made a pious Israelite shrink from all 
contact with this disease. Hence Elisha did not ad- 
mit the leper into his presence. Yet he would not 


LIVELY GRATITUDE 


93 


leave him hopeless. Love’s sacred ingenuity found 
out a means of overleaping the ceremonial barrier, 
and hence the message, “ Wash and be clean.” 

Elisha here, like his great antitype when dealing 
with another alien, the Syrophoenician, acted in min- 
gled grace and truth. Grace sent the sick Syrian a 
message of saving health, but truth barred the pro- 
phet’s door against the proudest leper that walked 
God’s earth. Now, however, all is changed. The 
good news have been believed and acted on, the 
leprosy is completely removed, and in grace and truth 
God’s prophet communes with the cleansed leper. 

Communion commences after cleansing. For the 
defiled sinner there is no communion. He has the 
message of mercy, and that is all. Only as we walk 
in the light, as He is in the light, have we fellowship 
one with the other, and that which maintains as well 
as begins this fellowship is the blood of Jesus Christ 
His Son which cleanseth us from all sin. Christian 
communion is based upon the cross of Christ. 
Hence that clause in the creed: “I believe in the 
communion of saints” Souls washed from the lep- 
rosy of sin by the blood of the Lamb are alone 
capable of true communion, and discipline in the 
Church is the practical acknowledgment of this fact. 
It may often, like the action of Elisha, look harsh; it 
may be called persecution, but only to souls not fully 
alive to the claims of God’s truth and the glory of 
God’s love. 

Standing in the presence of the prophet, Naaman’s 
lips are moved to utter great truths. He witnessed 
a good confession. He added to his faith, virtue. 
The confession was public, clear, and outspoken. He 


94 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


wished all to hear and know; not only Elisha and his 
household, but also his own retainers. He will have 
no man in doubt as to his opinions. He knows the 
true God, he loves Him, and therefore he must speak 
His praise in words that no one can mistake: 

“ Behold, now I know that there is no God in all 
the earth but in Israel.” 

How strong and sweeping is the statement! What 
an utter overturning of all the beliefs which up to 
that time he had cherished! Is he not 

A NEW MAN 

in soul as well as body? Is he not bravely taking 
his side? What has led Naaman to this conviction, so 
sure that he must proclaim it from the housetop? 
The fact that he has experienced God’s saving power. 

So is it w T ith every man. Never do we truly know 
God until we see Him our Savior. Therefore we 
never know God till we know Jesus who saves His 
people from their sins. The proud mind does not 
like to acknowledge this. Groping after God, it 
sometimes lays hold of a vast but vague idea and 
dreams it has found Him. Nay! Man’s heart will 
not be satisfied with a metaphysical abstraction, how- 
ever sublime, any more than with a marble statue of 
the most exquisite proportions. It is not the living 
God that we have apprehended. Canst thou by 
searching find out God? Canst thou find out the 
Almighty unto perfection? But looking at Jesus of 
Nazareth we find God — God manifest in the flesh. 
Looking at Him all through His earthly course, as 
He pitched His tent among us, we behold His glory, 
the glory as of an only-begotten from the Father, full 


LIVELY GRATITUDE 


95 


of grace and truth. Gazing on Gethsemane, and see- 
ing Him stooping there under the great burden of 
our sins till the spirit faints, and from every pore of 
His oppressed body the beads of bloody sweat are 
crushed, — above all standing at Golgotha and seeing 
Him suffer for our sins, the just for the unjust, dying 
that we might live, groaning in unutterable agony 
that we might sing in ceaseless rapture, pouring out 
the water and the blood from His broken heart to 
cleanse us from all sin, — gazing on these things and 
then hearing this same Jesus say to our souls, “ Thy 
sins are forgiven thee,” — then, oh then, like Naaman, 
heart melted, eyes opened, soul saved, the cry bursts 
from our lips: 

“ Now I know.” 

And the cry thus commenced is often repeated. 
Perhaps at some great crisis in our history, when our 
way has been hedged in like that of Israel at the Red 
Sea and we were at our wits’ end, we committed our 
way unto the Lord, and if no voice from heaven cried: 
“ Stand still and see the salvation of God,” our heart 
hoped in His unchanging love and rested in His holy 
Word. And when we beheld Him doing great won- 
ders and leading us out by a way we knew not, have 
we not with renewed thankfulness repeated the old 
words : 

“Now I know.” 

Or again we have been brought into deep affliction. 
All God’s waves and billows pass over our heads. 
The song dies from our faltering lips. Faith can 
only groan: “ How long, O Lord, how long.” But in 
good time the purpose of the Lord appears, the peace- 
able fruits of righteousness arise. New light breaks 


96 


KAAMAN TtTE SYPIAN 


in upon our souls through the shot holes of sad calam- 
ities, and looking up through them to the face of a 
loving Father, who would have us like Himself, we 
can say with Job: 

“ I have heard of Thee with the hearing of the ear, 
but now mine eye seeth Thee.” 

Knowledge through our afflictions has been in- 
creased; increased as by the addition of another sense. 
Well then may the soul say with deeper emphasis 
than ever: 

“ Now I know.” 

At other times the soul is lifted up into such high 
communion that things seen and temporal shrink into 
their own nothingness, and God, and His Christ, and 
His purposes and work, are viewed in all their glory. 
We have an inkling of what Paul means when he 
speaks about being caught up into the third heavens. 
Then we fall in rapture at the feet of the Lamb as it 
were slain, longing to be nothing so that He be all in 
all. 

“ Now,” the heart sings with joy inexpressible and 
full of glory, “ Now I know.” 

But what will all these rapturous flights and inspira- 
tions and outbursts of knowledge be to that which 
still awaits us? To that which will flood in upon our 
souls when we behold Him as He is, when we stand 
forever by the glassy sea and sing the song of the re- 
deemed? All our past knowledge compared with 
this will be characterized by weakness, imperfection, 
one sidedness. Then knowledge will be Godlike in 
its perfection, then the soul will cry, as never before: 

“Now I know, I know even as I am known.” 

Standing in the presence of Elisha, Naaman has an 


LIVELY GRATITUDE 


97 


opportunity for pressing his gifts upon the prophet, 
and he avails himself of it. His astounding recovery 
demands some acknowledgement. By the prophet’s 
previous action he was prevented from presenting 
these gifts as the w T ages that brought the cure, but 
now he would lay them at his feet in token of his un- 
dying gratitude. 

Surely this was seemly. Had no such desire 
sprung up in Naaman’s heart, would we not have con- 
cluded, and rightly concluded, that he did not realize 
how good God had been to him? See then that in 
praising generous Naaman you do not condemn your- 
self. He pressed his gifts with the most vehement 
earnestness upon God’s prophet; what have you ren- 
dered to the Lord for all His benefits? Has your 
gratitude dissipated itself in empty words? Has it 
evaporated in a few idle tears? Oh for a healthy, 
abiding, earnest, self-sacrificing gratitude! 

But if his action was so comely, why did Elisha 
refuse his gifts? Was it because he did not admire 
his conduct? Nay, it was because he knew the time. 
It would have been out of harmony with the spiritual 
characteristics of that hour to have taken anything 
from Naaman. There is a time for receiving gifts 
and there is a time for refusing them. Elisha by this 
refusal showed that the spirit of God was infused into 
him. His action was an exquisite proof of how closely 
he walked with God. His clear eye saw the stamp of 
grace which the Divine hand had impressed upon 
that hour, and he would take nothing from Naaman 
that would blur it, yea, he will smite Gehazi with a 
curse for marring the glorious testimony by his love 
of filthy lucre. As Abraham would have nothing 


98 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


from tlie king of Sodom, not even a shoe latchet, so 
Elisha will have nothing from Naaman. Such an act 
would have created a spiritual discord, and spoiled the 
heavenly melody that then was breathing in the air 
of this selfish world. 

Surely the grand truth that was being magnified 
was grace — pure, sovereign, divine, almighty, unde- 
served grace. A leper has been cleansed, a leper who 
is not of the seed of Abraham, cleansed while many in 
Israel remained unclean. Surely this was grace. 
Again God is honoring the faith of that little maid 
who sent the great Syrian to His prophet. This 
stranger, this alien, this enemy whom she has intro- 
duced by the prayer of faith and the hope of love to 
the compassions of the God of Jacob, must not go 
away disappointed though every leper in the land re- 
mains as he was before. Surely this also is grace. 
And so dearly does Elisha love this grace, so highly 
will he magnify it, that he will take nothing of all 
Naaman’s gifts. 

Here Elisha emphasizes the truth of that glorious 
Pauline parenthesis, “ By grace are ye saved,” the 
truth which is perhaps the hardest for the natural 
heart to receive. The prophet sought to teach 
Naaman that God would 

TAKE NOTHING FROM HIM BUT HIS LEPROSY. 

He would impress upon him, and upon all who 
should hear his story, the fact that Jehovah saves 
freely, that He will be debtor to no man in the 
matter of the soul’s salvation. 

Surely this clear testimony to the grace of God is 
of the utmost value. What a vivid and abiding de- 


LIVELY GRATITUDE 


99 


monstration have we here that the principle on 
which God saves is the very opposite of that which 
all heathen, we might say indeed, all merely human 
systems propose. “Nothing for nothing” is their 
motto. “ Everything for nothing ” is God’s. “ Do 
some great thing ” is their great prescription. “ Wash 
and be clean ” is God’s. Earn life, earn health, earn 
salvation is their advice. Take life, take health, take 
salvation is God’s proclamation. 

Friend, on which plan are you depending? Man’s 
or God’s? The matter is one of the utmost mo- 
ment. 

It was for this invaluable principle that Elisha re- 
fused Naaman’s valuable gifts, and his faithfulness 
here springs from the same root as Peter’s vehe- 
ment spurning of the money of Simon Magus: 

“ Thy money perish with thee — to think that the 
gift of God could be bought with money.” 

It is hard for man to believe in pure grace be- 
cause it is the rarest thing in the world. Hence any- 
thing that will magnify it in the eyes of all men is 
invaluable. Elisha’s noble words, “ As the Lord 
liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none,” seen 
thus as the manifesto of grace, have been of more 
value to the world than all Naaman’s riches could 
have been, even had they been consecrated to the en- 
dowment of the schools of the prophets over which 
Elisha presided. An endowment at the expense of 
such a principle would have been a ruinous invest- 
ment. Hence, though Naaman still pressed his gifts 
upon Elisha, the prophet remained firm. “ And he 
urged him to take it, but he refused.” 

Naanian’s gifts are firmly refused, and how he 


100 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


makes a request which, though very strange, proves 
that he is resolved henceforth to be a worshiper of 
Jehovah; “Shall there not then, I pray thee, be 
given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth? for 
thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offer- 
ing nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the 
Lord.” 

Now there is no doubt whatever that there was 
much superstition manifested by this request, yet it 
is not so bad as some of the superstitions that have 
been popular among those who call themselves Chris- 
tians, even in modern times. What did Naaman 
wish to do with this earth? Evidently to build an 
altar to Jehovah in his own land. Therefore, though 
the mode of expressing his purpose was heathenish, 
the purpose itself was good and noble. To him, just 
emerging from heathenism, it was the most expres- 
sive way in which he could have said: 

“I cast in my lot with you who are the chosen 
people of the Lord. I cannot dwell with you in 
body, but in my native land I shall be with you in 
spirit. Religiously I from this moment identify my- 
self with you; your people will be my people, your 
God my God. 

Here Naaman solemnly casts off allegiance to all 
false gods, and vows that, cost what it will, he will 
worship Jehovah only. Thus the cleansed leper has 
become an ardent worshiper. “ God is a spirit 
and they who worship Him must worship Him in 
spirit and in truth.” And who are they? Those 
who are washed in the blood of the Lamb, they alone. 
The defiled do not, cannot, worship God. 

It is evident also that Naaman has a tender con- 


LIVELY GRATITUDE 


101 


science. The difficulties that will beset his path in 
the future begin to dawn upon him. It flashes upon 
him in the very act of declaring his determination, 
that this worship of J ehovali will make him an oddity 
in Damascus, and that it will require much care and 
firmness to adhere to his resolution. How quickly 
is the conscience quickened by the consciousness of 
God’s love and the knowledge of His salvation. 
What Naaman was wont to do without the slightest 
scruple he begins to question. What he used to anti- 
cipate with pleasure as a peculiar honor, he now looks 
forward to with fear as a great trial. With his whole 
soul he repudiates these false gods that heretofore 
have deluded him. 

But even in the act of repudiation he remembers 
that great state ceremonial when it was his place as 
chief favorite to support the king Benhadad as he 
went to worship in the house of Rimmon. He re- 
members that there he has to bow with him before 
his god. Will there be anything in this outward act 
inconsistent with true allegiance to Jehovah? Naa- 
man is in a difficulty, therefore he puts the case before 
the prophet. 

Now it is 

EASY TO FIND FAULT WITH NAAMAN, 

but let him who is without sin in such matters cast 
the first stone. Who has not been sorely tempted to 
let principle bend a little to expediency? Who has 
not sought to excuse himself for taking up a false 
position? He little knows the weakness of the human 
heart who will bear hard on Naaman. 

We ipust remember that though he is cleansed he is 


102 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


not fully enlightened. He is emerging from the 
blindness of heathenism and his spiritual vision is 
not clear, neither are his feet so firm as they will be. 
He is by no means perfect, How could he be? But 
one thing in him we must admire, and that is his 
honesty. He does not quibble with his conscience. 
He resorts to no subterfuge to excuse himself. He 
wishes to keep his conscience clean and sensitive, 
hence the honest hopeful statement of his difficulty. 

Listen to the answer. It is short but sufficient. It 
is an embodiment of wisdom and faithfulness rarely 
paralleled and never surpassed except in the answers 
of Him who spake as never man spake. One does 
not know which to admire most, whether the wisdom 
or the faithfulness of the answer. 

Elisha did not say to Naaman — “ Go ”; that would 
have given countenance to idolatry. Elisha here does 
not grant Naaman a special dispensation. Neither 
does Elisha say — “ Don’t go that would have dashed 
down the cup of new born joy from the lips of Naa- 
man and filled his soul with difficulties and struggles 
inimical to free spiritual growth. Elisha imitates 
the patience of the God whose prophet he is. He 
does not expect his own experience and practice re- 
produced in a moment in Naaman. He does not 
expect Naaman at once to do exactly as he does and 
to think as he thinks. In the spirit of Godgiven 
charity he is content to wait. Hence liis answer — 
“ Go in peace,” that is as if he said to Naaman: 
“ Your heart is now filled with peace through the 
knowledge of Jehovah’s grace. Now wherever you 
go, whatever you do, take heed that you never lose 
that peace which is now your portion.” 

Elisha knew full well that the enjoyment of the 


LIVELY GRATITUDE 


108 


peace of God and worship in the house of Rimmon 
were incompatible, but he left Naaman to find that 
out himself, as he did in good time. Surely this was 
wise. The joy of the newly emancipated soul was 
not marred, the future would test the reality of his 
good confession. 

To us in this labyrinth of life is the same word 
given: “ Go in peace.” This is the clue which will 
lead us safely out of all its mazes if we never let it go. 

Many ask in regard to questionable things : “ Should 
I go here or there? Should I do this or that? Is 
this engagement or that amusement right or wrong?” 

I cannot answer, I wull not answer many of these 
questions. Here is an more excellent way. First let 
me ask, have you the peace of God within your 
heart? Do you answ T er “No”? Then my only 
advice to you is, 'make it your first, your albabsorbing 
concern to have it. But another can answer: 

“ Yes, thank God, I have His peace reigning in my 
heart. I know something of the joy of His salvation.” 

To you I say, make it your one aim never to lose 
that peace. Go nowhere, do nothing that will rob 
you of it. Take to yourselves the advice which 
Elisha gave to Naaman, “ Go in peace.” You will 
speedily find, as he did, what things help and what 
things hinder in the enjoyment of this great good. 

“ Be careful for nothing, but in everything by 
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your 
requests be made known unto God, and the peace of 
God which passeth understanding will keep your 
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” 

Thus does Paul speak to us as Elisha spoke to 
Naaman. We do well to take heed, 


VIII. 


GEHAZFS SELFISHNESS. 

We have seen the cleansed and grateful Naaman 
communing with Elisha, confessing his faith in 
Jehovah, offering gifts, presenting difficulties and 
receiving directions. All this is beautiful; but now 
an incident is recorded of a very different character. 
Naaman the rich Syrian had many servants, and those 
faithful and true. Elisha, the prophet of God, had 
but one, the worthless Gehazi. Not unfrequently men 
of the world are better served than the children of the 
kingdom. The conduct of this servant of Elisha is 
recorded here for our warning and instruction. This 
is one of the beacons God’s love has set on the dan- 
gerous reef of covetousness, on which so many have 
made shipwreck. Gehazi was a typical hypocrite, an 
earlier and a lesser Judas. 

Think of his antecedents. He seems to have been 
with the prophet a long time, and perhaps had be- 
longed to the household of Shaphat, Elisha’s father. 
This would make him all the more useful to his 
master, for he would be intimately acquainted with 
all his occupations and habits. But this long and 
close connection with the man of God had not led 
him to imbibe his master’s spirit. How frequently is 
the homely saying fulfilled, “ The nearer the church, 
the further from grace.” We may come into daily 
contact with the excellent of the earth and yet have 
no spark of their piety. 


101 


GEHAZVS SELFISHNESS 


105 


He was also a very clever and shrewd servant. His 
eyes were always open and his mind ever active. It 
needs rather a sharp man to be a successful hypocrite. 
As an example of Gehazi ’s insight, recall the case of 
the Shunammite. She had been very kind and atten- 
tive to the prophet, and he desired to show his appre- 
ciation of her kindness by doing her some service. 
Accordingly he said to her: 

“ Wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to 
the captain of the host? ” 

The proposal had no attractions for her. She had 
no longing for public life or courtly splendor. The 
home circle was the sphere in which alone she cov- 
eted to shine, and truediearted woman that she was, 
she gave that memorable and beautiful answer which 
not only breathes her pious and kindly contentment, 
but also displays her highest dignity: 

“ I dwell among my own people.” 

The prophet, utterly at a loss, consulted with 
Gehazi, saying: “ What, then, is to be done for 
her? ” 

The case presented no difficulty to the keemsighted 
servant. Without a moment’s hesitation he answered: 

“ Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old.” 

Verily, Gehazi, thou art no fool. 

Also Gehazi appeared to be a zealous servant. 
When the son of this Shunammite died, and she came 
to lay her grief before Elisha, he ran to meet her at 
his master’s command, and when ordered, hastened 
to place the prophet’s staff upon the dead child. In- 
deed, in this scene lie seems slightly over^zealous, 
for when she, dumb with grief, cast herself before 
Elisha and caught him by the feet, he resented her 


106 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


action as an unwarrantable liberty, and would have 
thrust her away had not the man of God said: 

“ Let her alone, for her soul is vexed wdtliin her, 
and the Lord hath hid it from me.” 

Gehazi is more concerned about the prophet's dig- 
nity and honor than the prophet is himself, and if 
skilful in reading character, is too ready to attribute 
unworthy motives. The Shunammite herself seemed 
to have an instinctive dislike to him, hence her curt 
and evasive answers when he enquired concerning her 
husband and child; she cannot unburden herself to 
him. Her heart would break rather than seek sym- 
pathy from such a one. 

Think now of his present conduct. He began by 
coveting. All the while the interview lasted 

HIS HEART WAS IN NAAMAN’S TREASURE CHESTS. 

His evil thought was the father of his evil act. In- 
stead of throwing out the covetous 'desire when it en- 
tered, he gave it houseroom and a hearty welcome 
He sought to persuade himself that it would be a just- 
ifiable thing to get possession of some of those gifts. 

“ Behold my master hath spared Naaman, this 
Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he 
brought.” 

With true Jewish pride and prejudice he looks 
down upon that dog of an uncircumcised Syrian. 
Elisha had spared him, Gehazi would spoil him. The 
prophet’s conduct seemed childish folly to his serv- 
ant 

“ If the Israelites spoiled the Egyptians, why 
should not this Syrian be laid under tribute? He is 
rich enough. He has no need of those things and 


GEHAZPS SELFISHNESS 


107 


would never miss them. Yea, were not these treas- 
ures brought for the purpose of giving away? Why 
then should he have the trouble of carrying back to 
Damascus that which was as good as given? If 
Elisha is contented with Elijah’s cloak, I am not, and 
I don’t see why I shouldn’t make a little out of this 
windfall. Ay, and if Elisha had only taken these 
presents part of them would have fallen to me, and 
my w r ages are not wdiat they ought to be, though no 
one ever heard me complain. Who better deserves 
or more needs a perquisite than I? and surely this is 
a legitimate one.” 

Thus Geliazi may have reasoned with himself. It 
is always easy to excuse the conduct that covetous- 
ness suggests, and when self-interest is concerned the 
devil will find an excuse for any course of action. Is 
he not excuse-maker to the whole w T orld? 

The more Gehazi pondered the matter the more he 
encouraged himself. Perhaps he may have been a 
little doubtful at first if it w 7 ould be exactly the right 
thing to do, but the more he pondered it, the more 
plainly he saw T Elisha’s folly and was confirmed in his 
own wisdom. 

“ Poor simple-minded man,” he thought, “ what 
know 7 s Elisha about business and money matters? 
He has no idea of the value of money. If I did not 
arrange such things he w 7 ould often get into difficul- 
ties. None of these prophets are good business men. 
They are far too soft and simple. His scruples are ab- 
surd and impracticable, transcendental moonshine. 
They would never do in a matter-of-fact w 7 orld like this. 
Ay, and I don’t know but he is putting dishonor on 
the ordinance of God by this course of conduct. Has 


108 


n A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


not every cleansed leper in Israel to go and show 
himself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses 
commanded? Surely if the seed of Abraham have to 
offer gifts, much more should this uncircumcised 
Syrian. Elisha should not be so lenient. His con- 
duct is a toning down of the divine commandment.” 

Thus also Gehazi may have reasoned, for we know 
that he encouraged himself in his course by a solemn 
oath: 

“ As the Lord liveth, I wdll run after him and take 
somewhat of him.” 

If Gehazi has not learned piety, he has been long 
enough under Elisha to pick up its phraseology. 
That is easily done, and there are few things more 
disgusting. Cant of all kinds is repulsive, and relig- 
ious cant is worst of all. 

Having committed himself to this course, see his 
eagerness in attaining his end. No time was to be 
lost, for Naaman had already started. Probably 
Gehazi had been busy maturing his plans while the 
interview with his master was going on. See him 
now at the first chance slipping from the presence of 
Elisha. Behold him girding his loins and running 
with all his might up hill and down dale after the 
slowly retreating chariot. It was hard work, but 
what will not man do for a little gold! 

Breathless, hot and dusty, he was almost giving up 
in despair, when, at a turn of the road, Naaman 
caught sight of the runner, stopped his chariot, and 
w r aited for his approach. “ When Naaman saw him 
running after him, he lighted down from the chariot 
to meet him, and said, Is all well?” Surely this act 
shows the deep humility of this changed man. What 


GEHAZI'S SELFISHNESS 


109 


at one time lie would have considered beneath him 
to do to Elisha, or even to Joram, he does to Elisha’s 
servant. He sent a messenger both to the king’s 
palace and the prophet’s house, while he himself sat 
in dignified expectation in his chariot. “ Let king 
and prophet alike wait on me at my chariot step,” he 
then seemed to say. Now he alights from his chariot, 
ready to meet the prophet’s servant on a footing of 
equality. What a change! 

His greeting also shows his docility. “Is there 
peace?” (marg.) he asks Gehazi. 

The last words of Elisha are the first on his lips. 
They have been ringing in his ears all the while. 
Though no more as to form than the ordinary saluta- 
tion he has heard thousands of times, ever since Elisha 
uttered them they have been invested with a new sig- 
nificance, for they were a divinely^perfect answer to 
all his perplexities. Therefore he had been ponder- 
ing their meaning. This blessed peace, a peace never 
known by his soul before, was his portion, and what 
better blessing could he wish for any than to be pos- 
sessed of the same. Hence the greeting — 

“ Is there peace? ” 

Gehazi answered, JVJy master hath sent me, say- 
ing, Behold even now there be come to me from 
mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the 
prophets; give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, 
and two changes of garments.” 

The ready credence Naaman gave to this tale shows 
how open and unsuspicious was his heart. The story 
may look a little unlikely, but he does not know the 
habits of the prophet, nor do we. We know that 
Elisha was deeply interested in the sons of the proph- 


110 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


ets and of the schools in which they were taught; and 
we also know that there are few better ways of spend- 
ing money than in helping to train those who shall 
be witnesses for the truth of God and the God of 
truth. The response of Naaman also showed his gen- 
erosity. He had not lost the glow of gratitude, and 
pressed upon Gehazi twice as much as he asked for. 
He, like an unmitigated hypocrite, must forsooth be 
entreated to accept what his fingers were itching to 
clutch. 

Gehazi’s end was attained. With a light heart he 
bade Naaman good-bye. Two soldiers were sent with 
him to carry the ill-gotten silver and raiment, and on 
the way back he no doubt planned how best to keep 
the transaction dark. He sought to do so first of all 
by skilful manipulation. There was no use in rous- 
ing Elisha’s suspicions, simple-minded man though 
he was, and therefore he dismissed Naaman’s soldiers 
at “the tower,” probably some snug hiding-place 
which he had utilized before in questionable trans- 
actions. Having thus safely disposed of the spoil, he 
entered into his master’s presence and set about his 
ordinary duties, but to his surprise was met by the 
unusual question: 

“ Whence comest thou, Gehazi? ” 

However, he was quite equal to the occasion, and 
unabashed replied: “Thy servant went no whither.” 

Now he is seeking to cover his deed by barefaced 
falsehood, and is finding out 

HOW MANY LIES ARE NEEDED TO BURY ONE. 

Very likely, as he thus addressed his master, he af- 
fected an air of surprise and injured innocence, as if 


OEHAZVS SELFISHNESS 


111 


he could do anything but attend to his master’s inter- 
ests. Certainly his answer might have been more re- 
spectful. Generally this tone of injured innocence 
is a sign of expertness in deceit. 

Do you wonder at this man’s conduct? I am sure 
it is not so very rare. How much of the riches 
around has been got and is kept by just the same 
means. How often in commercial circles do we hear 
false tricks excused. How often does ability in busi- 
ness mean plausibility in lying. In the esteem of 
some is not a smart business man one who can tell 
the cleverest lies, and palm off a bad article for a 
good? How many think that they cannot get on in 
business without perpetual deceit. One such has 
said to me that if he had not told as many lies as 
would have filled a chaff bed lie would never have 
made anything. How many sum up a successful 
commercial career in the two monosyllables, “ get 
on.” Get on, no matter how; by fair means or foul, 
by lying, cheating, swindling, fraudulent bankruptcy, 
unfair trade, no matter what, by any and every 
means, get on. 

This is the positive degree of comparison in the 
successful life, and the comparative and superlative 
are like to it. After you have thoroughly mastered 
the positive there will be no harm in adding to it er 
and est, to form the comparative and superlative, and 
thus your life will be summed up by the words get on , 
get honor, get honest. The addition of the last two 
will at a later stage of life be found to be useful and 
attractive, though at the beginning they would have 
been a hindrance. 

After you get on, it will be wise to try to get honor , 


112 


NAAMAN THE SYRIA 1ST 


even as Gehazi became courtier after lie left Elisha. 
The good opinion of your fellow-men is something 
worth having. When you have your fortune it will 
make life much more enjoyable. It would be un- 
comfortable to be tabooed by society, even though you 
are a millionaire. On the other hand, it is delightful 
to be looked up to as a pattern of everything that is 
noble and good. When you take the chair on great 
public oocasions, it will be pleasant to hear yourself 
spoken of as a paragon of integrity; as one who in this 
hollow world has risen to such eminence by unwearied 
industry, marvelous capacity, and unspotted upright- 
ness. Till you get used to that sort of thing, you 
may laugh in your sleeve at the simpletons and de- 
spise the parasites, but soon you will find out that it 
is very pleasant to get honor, and perhaps in the long 
run you will be able to convince yourself that these 
are words of truth and soberness. Therefore, young 
man, after you get on, there is no reason in the world 
why you should not try to get honor; but don’t be 
such a fool as to begin with it. 

Then when you are leaving the earth altogether 
and don’t know what is to happen to you, it will be 
just as well to try to get honest. It may help you on 
your death bed if it hindered you in your business. 
It was lead on the ocean of active life, it may be cork 
in the deep waters of death. It was poor policy for 
time, but it may pay for eternity. 

How many are molding their lives after some such 
plan! First and foremost they seek to get on. By-and^ 
bye the desire is to get honor. Last of all they may 
wish to get honest. Is there so much difference be- 
tween these modern merchants and this old-world 


GEHAZFS SELFISHNESS 


113 


servant? 

But some one says: “You are a little too hard on 
humanity. You do not know the pressure that is 
put upon us business men, the keenness of competi- 
tion in these days, and you will allow that one must 
live. ” 

“One must live!” Sir! I see no such necessity. 
The time will come when you must die, and if you 
can’t live without lying it is plain that for you that 
.time has come. For we do not know that God wants 
you to live, but we do know that He does not want 
you to lie. Do not think that this is a mere play 
upon words. How many of the glorious army of 
martyrs might have lived if they had only lied. 
When brought before their judges the decisive ques- 
tion invariably was; 

“Are you a Christian?” 

“ Yes ” meant fire, or stake, or sword, or the lion’s 
gory mane. “ No ” meant instant deliverance. The 
truth meant death; a lie meant life. Is any trial 
that has ever come upon you to be compared for a 
moment to that? Then never again urge as an ex- 
cuse for unfair dealing this word — “ One must live. ” 
Even if it were true that your life hung on a lie, 
these martyrs would condemn you; but it is not so. 
Thousands are living and prospering around you, 
who would spurn such an excuse as utterly false and 
groundless. 

But whether or not deceit pays now, of one thing 
I am sure, it does not pay in the long run, and if 
any think otherwise let them ponder this word of 
truth; “The getting of treasures by a lying tongue 
is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death. ” 


114 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


The miserable Geliazi speedily found out this solemn 
truth, and sooner or later so will every one pos- 
sessed of his spirit. 

Behold this man’s sin and punishment. 

In doing as he did, Gehazi sinned against his 
master. Was there not a danger that Naaman would 
get a false impression of Elisha on account of this 
act? Would he not think him weak and vacillating, 
one who would say and unsay, swear and unswear, a 
man who did not know his own mind, and who did an 
honorable thing only to withdraw it? Would it not 
look as if Elisha were a mean man, who vainglori- 
ously refused in public what he inwardly and greedily 
desired? What a false light this in which to put the 
character of Elisha; but the covetous and deceitful 
care not a pin for the reputation of others, so that 
their own ends are served. 

He also sinned against Naaman. His conduct was 
fitted to put a stumbling-block in this young convert’s 
way, and alienate his mind in some measure from 
Elisha and Elisha’s God. It would make him and 
his followers take back a false report to Damascus 
concerning the grace of Jehovah and the character 
of His servants. 

Above all, he sinned against God. On this Elisha 
dwelt. He did not speak of his servant’s lie, he 
magnified a far greater evil. Gehazi’s actioh was in- 
consistent with the thoughts and actions of God, was 
terribly out of harmony with the Divine purposes, 
was contrary to the character of that hour. Hence 
the indignant question by which he revealed his 
knowledge of Gehazi’s sin. 

“ Is it a time to receive money ? Will your thoughts 


OEHAZFS SELFISHNESS 


115 


be forever running on filthy lucre? God has been 
showing His glorious grace. A Gentile has been 
learning the meaning of it for the first time. With- 
out money and without price was mercy shown to 
him, and now by your covetousness you must mar 
everything. The sin that obscured this perfect reve- 
lation is great and the punishment must be terrible. 
The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto 
thee and unto thy seed forever.” And Gehazi went 
out from his presence a leper as white as snow. 

Gehazi set his heart on Naaman’s riches. He got 
them, and lifelong misery to boot. Where was his 
profit? He gained a little of Naaman’s money, and 

GOT ALL NAAMAN’S DISEASE. 

He may become courtier and tell Elisha’s wonders 
for the amusement of a king, but he went down to 
the grave with the mark of God’s curse upon his body. 

How often is it so! How often do riches bring a 
canker which eats into the soul like a spiritual lep- 
rosy and renders life a long misery! And even if joy 
and happiness for a few brief years were the portion 
of the unjust, still there remains the solemn question 
of the Savior: 

“What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole 
world and lose his own soul?” 

Ye whose hearts are set on riches, ponder this 
question. 


IX. 

PASSING INTO OBSCURITY. 

From the time that Naaman parted with Gehazi we 
never again hear of him till Jesus pointed out his 
story for our instruction. Yet notwithstanding this 
long silence we may draw some legitimate and instruc- 
tive inferences as to his spiritual state from the 
events recorded in connection with a visit which Eli- 
sha paid to Syria some time afterwards. 

We began at Damascus, and there we must end. 
Then we fancied a great feast spread in honor of 
Naaman; now, not in fancy but in sober fact, the 
great city is wrapped in gloom. All its streets are 
hushed, and its daughters of music brought low. 
Anxiety and trouble are depicted on every face, for 
Benhadad their great king lies sick nigh unto death. 

Come, pass again within the palace gates. See 
the banqueting hall silent and deserted. Let no 
heavy footfall ring through the lofty corridor lest the 
sick man be disturbed. Death can enter this stately 
palace as easily as the mud hovel of Benhadad’s 
meanest slave. Walk softly into the sick chamber. 
There lies the king, rich, powerful, imperious, as vre 
have known him, face to face with death. What can 
he do against this enemy, the greatest he has ever en- 
countered? Will his treasures avail to buy him off, 
or his strong will arrest his clammy hand? Ah, no, 
the grizzly king laughs things like these to scorn ! 

116 


PASSING INTO OBSCURITY 


117 


Pale, weak, comfortless, anxious, this world fading 
away, the eternal world coming nearer and nearer — - 
poor Benhadad, thou art in a sorry case! This* is the 
toughest fight thou hast ever seen, 

Yes, and friend, just such a fight is before thee, 
perhaps in the immediate future. We may fear death, 
but we cannot escape him. However unwelcome his 
coming, it is sure. We may forget death, but doing 
so we only put ourselves to greater disadvantage. 
He will steal on us with stealthy steps as from be- 
hind, and at one fell blow level us with the dust. 

Is there any escape from the fear of death ? There 
is. Listen to the dying words of one who had the 
pen of a ready writer, Frances Kidley Havergal. 
She said as she lay a^dying: 

“ It is so beautiful to go. I thought the Lord had 
more work for me to do, but it is not His will. I am 
going to see Him, the King in His beauty. Yes, my 
King! I don’t want to be impatient to go. Oh yes, it 
is splendid! I thought He w T ould have left me 
awhile, but He is so good to take me so soon.” 

Surely that w T as triumph over the fear of death. 
How was it obtained? She gives a clue to the an- 
swer in one of her last requests. She desired that her 
name should be written on her coffin and encircled 
by the text: 

“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us 
from all sin.” 

That is enough, here was all her confidence, the 
open secret of her perfect peace. 

Listen to the testimony of another, a man of world- 
wide renowm, the late Sir James Simpson. The pas- 
sage was quoted — “This is a faithful saying, and 


118 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into 
the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.’ 
He answered: 

“ Well may I make use of these words. It has hap- 
pily come to this, — I am a sinner needing a Savior, 
and Jesus is the Savior I need. I have mixed a 
great deal with men of all shades of opinion, I have 
heard men of science and philosophy raise doubts 
and objections to the gospel of Christ, but I have 
never for one moment had a doubt since I believed.” 

Thus with calmness and even rapture have count- 
less numbers of Christ’s disciples faced the king of 
terrors. 

It is far otherwise with this heathen king before 
us. Neither his religion nor his philosophy can give 
him any comfort. He is ill at ease. But see! there 
is a noble Syrian in attendance on him. Who is 
this? Our old friend Naaman? nay, it is another, 
Hazael. Why this change? Surely in other days we 
should have found Naaman here. Yes, but things 
have not gone quite smoothly since his return from 
Samaria. We cannot speak with certainty but there 
is nothing unlikely in the supposition that he has 
been supplanted. Indeed if we grant that there are 
evidences of a Divine work of grace going on in the 
heart of Naaman, as seems indisputable, then in the 
natural course of events there would be nothing sur- 
prising in such a change. Elisha’s parting words 
were “ Go in peace.” This everyday salutation glori- 
fied into 

AN INSPIRED ANSWER TO ALL HIS DIFFICULTIES 
became the formative principle of Naaman’s life. In 


PASSING INTO OBSCURITY 


119 


all circumstances he strove to be faithful to it. His 
one endeavor was to maintain his faith in the God of 
Israel and a good conscience. When he returned to 
Damascus, unless his words to Elisha were empty 
breath, he must have confessed with soldierlike frank- 
ness the momentous change that had occurred, the 
new religious position he had taken up. He would 
darken the door of no heathen temple to give thanks 
for his recovery He would lay no gifts at the feet 
of the false priests who swarmed around. Ay, and 
when the time came for that great and imposing 
recognition of the national god, he found that his 
conscience would not permit him to enter into the 
house of Rimmon or take any part whatever in the 
ceremony. Such must have been his conduct had he 
continued true to the grace he had received, and the 
fact that from this time his name drops out of the 
public history of his country is strong presumption 
that he was thus faithful, that he was as bold in testi- 
fying to the truth as he had been in fighting Benha- 
dad's battles. 

Sooner or later such faithfulness must have 
brought him into collision with his royal master, for 
Benhadad remained, till laid “on his last bed, the im- 
placable enemy of the people of God. To a despot 
like him nothing could be more aggravating than the 
consistent cond uct of a Hebrew proselyte. All Naa- 
man’s difficulties of conscience would seem to him 
unreasonable scruples; his refusal to acknowledge in 
any way the national gods, insane obstinacy, or utter 
atheism. He would look upon Naaman as the most 
impracticable man in Damascus, one utterly spoiled 
for public life since the time of his strange cure. The 


120 


N A AM AN THE SYRIAN 


fact of Naaman’s cure he did not, could not deny, but 
it failed to convince him as it had convinced Naaman, 
that Jehovah was the one living and true God. 

We know that very soon after Naaman’s return a 
new war broke out against Israel, and it is a fact of 
great significance that in this war no mention is made 
of Naaman, the greatest general of his country. What 
is the explanation? Surely the fact that the honest 
and grateful soldier would not take arms against the 
people whose God was the Lord who saved him. 
Benliadad had to conduct the campaign in person 
and with no success. All his plans were abortive, and 
he was so often outwitted that he thought there must 
be a spy among his councillors. Accordingly calling 
his servants together, he accused them of treachery, 
saying: 

“ Will you not show me which of us is for the king 
of Israel? ” 

And one of his servants said: “None, my lord, O 
king; but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth 
the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in 
thy bedchamber.” 

Yet notwithstanding this repeated testimony to 
Divine power and wisdom, notwithstanding his una- 
vailing attempt to seize the prophet, notwithstanding 
the ignominious surprise and magnanimous treatment 
of the guerilla portion of his army, — a treatment 
which so touched the petty chief at its head that they 
returned home and never more molested Israel. — 
Benliadad would not be moved from his purpose. 
His enmity against Israel was not in the least abated. 
He would neither be convinced by Divine wisdom nor 
subdued by Divine magnanimity. He would rush 


PASSING INTO OBSCURITY 


121 


on the bosses of Jehovah’s buckler. Therefore mus- 
tering all his host he went up and besieged Sa- 
maria. 

The city was so sorely pressed that it looked as if 
nothing could save it from Behadad’s hands The 
famished defenders were reduced to such straits 
that even mothers ate their infants. All hope of 
saving the city was well-nigh gone, when a strange 
panic seized the besieging army and gave miraculous 
deliverance. “The Lord made the host of the 
Syrians to hear a voice of chariots and a voice of 
horses, even the voice of a great host; and they said 
one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired 
against us the Hittites, and the kings of Egyptians, 
to come against us. Wherefore they arose and fled 
in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, 
and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for 
their lives.” All the road to Jordan was filled with 
garments and vessels which the Syrians had cast 
away in their haste, and they arrived in Damascus in 
scattered bands, dejected and weary, as from a great 
defeat. 

Such a national disaster would deepen the disgrace 
of the fallen favorite and make his position one of 
the greatest hardship. Was it the knowledge of this 
that made Elisha appear upon the scene? No doubt 
he went to Damascus to carry out the commission of 
Elijah and anoint Hazael king of Syria, but there is 
no violence done to the narrative by supposing that 
he also came to comfort and encourage Naaman. 
Jesus found the blind man who was cast out of the 
synagogue for his faithfulness, and revealed Himself 
to him for his comfort, and He does this in all ages 


122 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


to every faithful soul, in conformity with His own 
word: “ Verily I say unto you, there is no man that 
hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or mother, or 
father, or children, or lands, for my sake, and for the 
gospel’s sake, but he shall receive a hundredfold 
now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, 
and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecu- 
tions, and in the world to come, eternal life.” If 
Naaman suffered for Him, he must have been com- 
forted by Him. What more seemly than that this 
comfort should be ministered by the hand of Elisha ; 
so that if Naaman made a long journey to the 
prophet, and had to leave his door without an inter- 
view, the prophet will make the same journey to him 
to give him consolation and strength in his hour of 
need. 

But another beside Hazael and Naaman is inter- 
ested in Elisha’s unlookedffor arrival. The proud 
Benhadad, smitten with sickness, fearing he will die, 
determines to consult this great prophet of whom he 
has heard so much, and of whose power he has had 
such marvelous experience. See how affliction 
changes his heart. In health, Benhadad was in the 
house of Rimmon, and persecuted all who would not 
bow with him; in sickness he ignored this god’s ex- 
istence. In health, he sent soldiers to seize God’s 
prophet; in sickness lie sent honored messengers to 
entreat his help. Yes, a false religion or no religion 
will do to live on, we must have 

SOMETHING REAL TO DIE ON. 

How many slight the ministers of the gospel and 
the ordinances of God’s house in the hour of health 


PASSING INTO OBSCURITY 


128 


and clutch at them in the hour of death ! And how 
readily such conduct is excused by their fellows! 
It is only the thoughtlessness of youth. “I have no 
patience with those who talk about the ‘ thoughtless- 
ness of youth ’ indulgently. I had infinitely rather 
hear of thoughtless old age and the indulgence due 
to that. When a man has done his work, and noth- 
ing can in any way be materially altered in his fate, 
let him forget his toil and jest with his fate, if he 
will: but what excuse can you find for wilfulness of 
thought at the very time when every crisis of 
future fortune hangs on your decisions? A youth 
thoughtless, when the career of all his days depends 
on the opportunity of a moment! A youth thought- 
less, when all the chances of his home forever de- 
pend on the chances or the passions of an hour! 
A youth thoughtless, when his every act is a founda- 
tion stone of future conduct, and every imagination 
a fountain of life or death! Be thoughtless in any 
after years rather than now, though indeed there is 
only one place where a man may be nobly thought- 
1 ess— his death d)ed. No thinking should ever be 
left to be done there.” 

This noble thoughtlessness is not the portion of 
Benhadad. He sends to Elisha magnificent presents 
on forty burdened camels, and by the lips of his most 
honored messengers, and in the most submissive 
tones, puts the hard question: 

“ Shall I recover of this disease? ” 

Elisha’s answer sounds enigmatical: “ Thou 
mayest certainly recover, liowbeit he shall surely 
die.” 

But the explanation is easy. The disease with 


124 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


which the king was afflicted was not in itself fatal, 
yet the hour of his death by vile ingratitude and 
treachery is at hand. Hazael hears the prophet’s 
answer, and true hypocrite that he was, stands before 
Elisha with downcast countenance as if overwhelmed 
with grief at the sad announcement. But the proph- 
et reading his heart, as he read the heart of that 
other hypocrite, Gehazi, looked him straight in the 
face; looked with a look so keen and penetrating 
that at last the blush mantled on Hazael’s cheek, 
and he is convinced that his hypocrisy is un- 
veiled, and his feigned sorrow despised. The calm 
holy eye of the man of God stirs even the 
hardened conscience of. this hypocrite and makes 
him blush for very shame. The effect is all the 
more powerful because Elisha’s look, though keen, 
was not so much one of anger as of sorrow; a look 
which at length melted into tears, tears which for the 
time seemed to touch even Hazael’s hard heart and 
made 'him put the question : 

“Why weepeth my lord?” 

Slowly and solemnly the answer came: “Because 
I know the evil thou wilt do unto the children of 
Israel.” 

Hazael is greatly relieved by the answer. It does 
not thwart his plans, it rather assures success, and 
so elated is he, so friendly is the feeling he entertains 
towards this prophet who has brought him good 
news, and this nation to which he belongs, that with 
unfeigned surprise he exclaims: 

“ Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great 
thing?” 

He thinks he will neither be strong enough nor 


PASSING INTO OBSCURITY 


125 


wicked enough to do such a barbarous deed. As to 
strength, Elisha answered: 

“ Thou slialt be king over Syria”; as to wickedness, 
<£ The heart is deceitful above all things,” though 
man unregenerate always thinks himself infinitely 
better than he is; therefore the word of the prophet 
stands firm. 

On fire with ambition Hazael returned from the 
prophet. He is eager to anticipate Providence, and 
determined to clutch at the crown within his reach. 

Accordingly, having told his master that his re- 
covery was certain, on the very next day he followed 
the father of lies a step further and became a mur- 
derer. With pretended kindness and unmixed baseness 
he took a thick cloth and dipped it in water as if to 
cool Benhadad’s fevered brow, but instead he spread 
it on his face to suffocate him. Feeble and short 
was the sick man’s struggle for life. Soon all was 
over. That pallid piece of clay is all that is left of 
the king. 

What an end to the unhappy Benhadad! What 
a Nemesis! Could faithful Naaman have acted thus? 
When will men learn wisdom? How long will they 
be in seeing that the principle that dare not trifle 
with conscience may be troublesome, but is trust- 
worthy? Naaman’s scruples may have been annoying 
but 

hazael’s hypocrisy has proved fatal. 

Surely standing beside that deathbed we learn how 
much better than sleek hypocrisy which merely seeks 
its own, is the unbending faithfulness that dare not 
dishonor God. 


126 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


And this dark deed was the act of him who cried a 
day before: “Is thy servant a dog?” How speedy 
was the fall ! How true is that word: “ Out of the 
heart proceed evil thoughts, murder.” Between the 
thought and the deed, how swift may be the transi- 
tion if the opportunity serves. “ Is thy servant a 
dog?” No dog ever fawned more abjectly on his 
master than he did, and no dog ever turned upon a 
master more ferociously. 

Let no one trust in the goodness of his heart or 
make a boast of it. “ The heart is deceitful above all 
things and incurably wicked; who can know it?” 
We must be born again; a new heart and a right 
spirit must be put within us ere we can have strength 
to resist temptation, ere we can either see or enter 
into that kingdom of heaven which is righteousness 
a d peace. 

What thought Hazael of the cruel deed? The 
hour of triumph has come, who cares for sentiment ? 
He took the crown from the head of his murdered 
master, and it may be with little or no remorse as- 
cended and sat upon his throne. Whether or not his 
crime was ever known, there cannot be a doubt 
that thousands admired and envied his power and 
splendor. Looking upon it as it grew wider and 
brighter, some may have recalled the former renown 
of Naaman, his unrivaled promise and sudden 
eclipse. Perhaps the wiseacres would nod their heads 
and say profoundly. “ It is always the unlikely that 
occurs,” and no doubt in their heart of hearts they 
had despised the man who for such paltry scruples 
had cast away the chance of such a glorious lot. But 
at this distance of time, who does not feel that the 


PASSING INTO OBSCURITY 




righteous obscurity of Naaman is more to be desired 
than the iniquitous splendor of Hazael, and that far 
better than the pomp and power of gilded sin is the 
peace of a heart that walks with God. 

And it is thus we part with Naaman. He vanishes 
from the field of history when others less worthy 
come into prominence. Had not his heart been 
changed we must have heard of him again. Such a 
name as his cou Id not have been blotted out of the 
history of his country at such a time without a cause. 
Do we not get the explanation of this fact in the 
prophet’s parting counsel, “ Go in peace,” and in 
Naaman’s deep and true “Amen,” thus he drops 
out of view. And if higher earthly fame is not his 
portion, yea, if he is persecuted for righteousness’ 
sake, what matters it? The blessing of God rests 
upon him. The obscurity that rises from faithful- 
ness to God is more honorable than the widest fame ; 
yea the most obscure and thorny path where souls 
walk on in peace with God, leads to praise and honor 
and glory that never fade away. When the wicked 
arise to shame and everlasting contempt the righteous 
shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their 
Father. 

Friend, after all, do you not think that the best 
wish for any one of us, for time as well as for eternity, 
can be summed up in the prophet’s farewell to Naa- 
man: “Go in peace”? Whatever trouble and ob- 
scurity on our part a true response may imply, it is 
our highest privilege. 

“Go in peace.” As we listen to these words are 
we not irresistibly reminded of a greater than Elisha? 
Do not our thoughts pass onward and upward from 


128 


NAAMAN THE SYRIAN 


the type to the antitype, from the man of God to the 
Messiah? Are not these the words of Jesus, His 
words to every feeble and defiled sinner that puts his 
trust in Him? He spoke them to that trembling 
woman healed of a disease as incurable as Naaman’s 
by touching the hem of His garment. He spoke 
them again to that sinner of the city who bathed His 
feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of 
her head. Do you feel as weak as the one, as worth- 
less as the other? Touch but the hem of His gar- 
ment. Steal with broken heart to Him, and cast 
yourself at His feet, He will not spurn you, He will 
bless you. To you as well as to them He will speak 
that word of eternal blessedness: 

“ Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace.” 


Reader 


For one dollar you can have ten 
copies of this book, or of any 
others of the series (assorted), sent to one address or 
to separate addresses, postpaid. 

For one dollar the ten following books, for general 
Christian reading, will be sent post-paid: 

Naaman the Syrian (No. 58), Faith (No. 56), Select 
Northfield Sermons (No. 53), Heaven on Earth (No. 
52), The Spirit-filled Life (No. 49), A Royal Exile (No. 
46), The Overcoming Life (No. 44), Kadesh-barnea 
(No. 40), Light on Life’s Duties (No, 15), and Pleasure 
and Profit in Bible Study (No. 3). 

Remit by bank draft, post=oflice, or express money 
order, payable to “A. F. Gaylord , Treasurer ” Ad- 
dress letters to 

A. P. F1TT, Supt. 

The Bible Institute Colportage Association, 

250 La Salle Ave., Chicago. 






SUBSCRIBE FOR THE 

MOODY GOLPORTflGE LIBRARY 

Issued semi-monthly by the Bible Institute Colportage 
Association, 250 La Salle Avenue, Chicago. 

Under the above title The Bible Institute Colportage 
Association is issuing - a series of books by well-known 
Christian authors. About 125 pages in each. 



PRESIDENT 


. VOLUME I.— Complete.— $ 2.25, postpaid. 5 

NUMBER. £ 

1. All of Grace, by C. H. Spurgeon. t 

2. The Way to God, by D. L. Moody. £ 

3. Pleasure and Profit In Bible Study, by D. L. Moody. £ 

4. Life, Warfare and Victory, by D. W~. Whittle. £ 

5. Heaven, b} T D. L. Moody. * e 

6. Prevailing Prayer, by D. L. Moody. * 

3 7. The Way of Life, marked out by Talmage, Mills, Chapman, McNeill, and t* 

a others. (■ 

3 8. Secret Power, by D. L. Moody. ■ 

a 9. To the Work, by D. L. Moody. £ 

1 10. According to Promise, b\ r C. H. Spurgeon. £ 

| 11. Bible Characters, by D. L. Moody. £ 

5 12. Gospel Pictures and Story Sermons for Children, by D. W. Whittle. » 

a 13. And Peter, and Other Sermons, by J. Wilbur Chapman. a 

3 14. Select Poems. “ Thirty-one gems of religious verse.” a 

J 15. Light on Life’s Duties, by F.,B. Meyer; introduction by J. W. Chapman. £ 

» 16, Point and Purpose in Story and Saying. “Spirited anecdotes.” r 

a 17. Selections from Spurgeon. 2 

3 18. The Good Shepherd A life of Christ, for children. ( Illustrated .) 2 

5 19. Good Tidings, by Talmage, Spurgeon, Parker, McNeill. i 

3 20. Sovereign Grace, by D. L. Moody. 2 

* 21. Select Sermons, by D L. Moody. 2 

j 22. Temperance. “A. perfect magazine of anecdotes, experiences, facts,” etc. J 

a 23. Nobody Loves Me. A story. By Mrs. O. F. Walton. ( Illustrated .) J 

■ 24. Resurrection. Chapters by McLaren, Talmage, Liddon, and others. 2 

2 Volume II.— English.— $ 1.20, postpaid. \ 

S. No. 26. Sowing and Reaping, by D. L. Moody. § 

a No. 23. ,*• Probable Sons ” A Story. (Illustrated.) a 

\ No. 30. Good News, by Robert Boyd. 3 

S No. 3’. The Secret of Guidance, by F. B. Meyer. 3 

No. 34. TheSecond Coming of Christ. By Muller.Spurgeon, Moody, and others. a 
No. 36. Sunday Talks to the Young, by Josiah Mee. 3 

No. 38. Parables from Nature, by Mrs. Alfred Gatty. J 

a No. 40. Kadesh'Barnea; or, the Power of a Surrendered Life, by J.W. Chapman, a 

£ No. 42. Whiter than Snow, and Little Dot. Stories. ( Illustrated .) 5 

£ No. 44. The Overcoming Life, and other Sermons, by D. L. Mood}’, J 

a No. 46. The Royal Exile, and other Sermons, by T. DeWitt Talmage. J 

^ No. 48. Tha Prodigal. Chapters by Spurgeon, Aitken, and others. 3 

| Further numbers announced later. Back numbers always in stock. J 

| «^TERMS.<^ £ 

* Volume I. complete, Nos. 1 to 24 Postpaid, $2.25 r 

3 Volume II. complete, Nos. 25 to 48 “ 2.25 £ 

& “ — twelve foreign numbers “ 1.20 £ 

3 “ — twelve English numbers “ 120 £ 

5 “ III. (one each month) “ 1.20 ^ 

3 Any single number “ -15 E 

3 Any two numbers “ -25 £ 

3 Any ten numbers “ 1.00 i? 

■ Special terms to Colporters and Canvassers, and in large quantities for 5 
f free distribution. For full information send stamp to | 

3 I\. P. FITT, Sup’t, { 

l THE BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION, J 

i Headquarters: 250 La Salle Ave., Chicago. 5 


COLPORTAGEfi 
LIBRARY 







SUBSCRIBE FOR 

THE MOODY 
COLPORTAGE LIBRARY 



Under the above title The Bible Institute Colportage 
Association is issuing a series of books by well-known 
Christian authors, undenominational, thoroughly evan- 
gelistic, for all classes of readers, in four languages. 
About 12S pages in each. 



VOLUME I., COMPLETE, $2.25, POSTPAID. 

Consisting of 24 numbers (Nos. 1 to 24) 


VOLUME II. 

president f English and Foreign, $2.25, Postpaid. 

Consisting of 12 English numbers and 12 Foreign numbers (Nos. 25 to 48.) 

FOR TITLES AND AUTHORS, SEE ADVERTISEMENTS INSIDE PAGES. 


VOLUME III. 

Twelve numbers, one each month, $1.20 for the set. 

No. 49. The Spirit-Filled Life, by John MacNeil. Introduction 
by Andrew Murray. 

No. 50. Jessica. A story in two parts— “Jessica’s First Prayer” 
'apd “Jessica’s Mother.” By Hesba Stretton. Illus- 
trated. * 

No. 51. A Castaway, and other addresses, by F. B. Meyer. 

No. 52. Heaven on Earth, by A. C. Dixon. 

No. 53. Select Northfield Sermons, by Murray, Speer, Cuyler, etc. 
No. 54. Absolute Surrender, by Andrew Murray. 

No. 55. Possibilities, by President James G. K. McClure. 

No. 56. Faith. Chapters by Moody, Spurgeon, MacLaren and 
others. 

A story. 


No. 57. Christie's Old Organ, by Mrs. O. F. Walton. 
Illustrated. 


No. 58. Naaman the Syrian, by A. B. Mackay. 

Further numbers announced later. Back numbers always /« stock. 

TERMS. 


Any single number, 
Any two numbers, 
Any ten numbers, 


Postpaid, $ .15 
“ .25 

“ 1.00 


free 


Special terms to Colporters and Canvassers, and in large quantities for 
distribution. For full information seud stamp to 


A. P. FITT, Sup't, 

The Bible Institute Colportage Association, 
Headquarters: *250 La Salle Ave., 


Chicago. 


1 4 
























* 






















































* 

































































\\ 1 

Xp ^ 

v <P 

>j r "/ * ■* * * N *N 

,0- s* 

S' •>» V 

o O' 


* * 



cS ^ 


v 1 fl a; ^ x ^- X c° N c * ?b 

. _/r^_ ^ ^ 4^ * r^>CV . ^ O 

^ «// ^ ^ s -- .: ^ 

"b 0 N 


O > / C^V ^ 

V V y' 



v 0 o 




.o’ ^ 



' s A 

111 * s * * T ’A ' 3 N ” ^ 

V . s syj ** * ,0 V * * 0 r CV 

* ^ c. - ^ rA ' > 'h r ' <^ r > o 

^ v « -• ,*'.„■ ■:. » ^ <<* 
3^ % ' 

* \ ’o '* 






A r 0 N c „ *t+ 

4 

X 





"b 0 X 


A X 




\° b< 

*" " " ' ” 'b ^ cP Q- *■ 

O'' ,.»*», ^ * "''” V SV '' ” '* ""> "" X % 

/ *jgafe\ w* «\ 





<\ 


V b> 
aV </> 

6 <V bp> * 

s 

. * A o /x / 

,0‘ v« ' ' * *, % / %% * 

. *jSS^- f a, v+’ = „ ~ 

v 0o 

a v<* <^Asyy/i \\ > 

v> A r v ^‘- > a * ^ * <> \v '^. ' 

O • y -’• V v - •$ ( >0 C 1 ^ S d ^ 

* vV »o o'* A 0 O, »(H 4 .^ V . . oA 

" * * » > M 0 \ * /i ^ .V ^ M f, A 


cP 



^ ^ y 



«'3 < ‘ ^ 0 ‘ ”0, 

- ’ K V 0 v » ' * » , ^ 

^ ^ 5 ^ 5 i ^ 



'*b 0^ 



« t- •* 




V ^ 






0 *#» izp-% ^ jr ' 

: . .* *» ^ 

K^» ^ . 

1 C] 



' ' z 

c£ 

% G? Vf* -> 


aV </> J ^ 

.» 4 ' ^v . 

N G ' * * ' 4° v I 6 # s' 



% / *A V . * 




0j > ^ 9 n* ’ A , T i . 

‘ ^ " - > v O’ * 

<* r 

<A «*. 
%■ V * 

v\ v ' ° ( > - «;iip^ °v ^ ° %{/ m \yh * -* 

* -V V, • ^ ^ - l W ' 4 'V *v Rv 

^ " % aO V <r * 0 .* V * A <3* ’ * 

^j> c 0 N c « 

<* . O 


x. y, * 

^ ^ ° 

.> z 


aV </* 

^ <V » 

- V O f * y ^ \ V ' 

* 4 > c° N f ' ♦ *b, ** f o* ,^' fl * 

•V $ r r-X Nc . ^ O A v S „ /VOO-r. 1 "T 

A " , x v ^ + *+> <$ 

o 0 X 






* \ A 

c 0 N c ^ 

w ' ° 

A\ A. A „0 r-’ S - 

^ -v _xsi*l v. ^ _V 



c o *' > H \^» s <*>" 

\> Z.'* 

. . 2 - i t * • //T^.' ■• v 

.c> <<. , v- sv ,> * v\ v ^ 

/' * 7 7* •■> A * 'V' ,J V y _ 

> S \° V „ v l 8 * *<&**' " ? ^\ X . 0 N c ^ ~l a 

k \ aX - 


* r\ 

^ v d 0 a ; c > V v 

y 0 V- K * /\ 

c^ >°! 0 *, 






